“The Whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking”

Albert Einstein

I came across this quote this week and I just love it!  It gives me license to think of science in a new way. You may have had thoughts like mine when you hear science, research, and studies. Whoa that sounds technical but mostly boring! “I know, I know, I have shared your feelings but I have learned that science, and more specifically, research is vital in helping us to understand truth. That’s right truth.

In the world in which we live, truth is a fundamental and essential commodity. Why? Truth helps to shape our laws and society. Without the guidance of true principles, we would have no way of regulating standards that guide our communities, educational institutions, civil laws, or our lives!

So, let’s take a few minutes and learn how experiments and research are conducted.  I’ll start with the basics.

There is a great children’s book called, “How Science Works” by DK. It teaches about scientific method which is what Mr. Einstein said is helping us refine our everyday thinking.

It all starts with observing something. For instance, watching a group of preschool children during their first day of school. The class sits and listens to the teacher but after 5-7 minutes about 1/3 of the class became fidgety and restless. My observation is: some of the class has a hard time paying attention and some stay attentive. What could be causing the difference?

 First, we need an idea or observation, then we need a hypothesis- Could allowing the children to eat sugary cereal for breakfast be causing the difference in behavior?

 Next, we carry out an experiment by giving the same sugary cereal to half the children and eggs and toast to another half.

The next step is to collect data from the experiment. Measuring how much sugar was eaten and how much time after they ate did it seem to affect their behavior versus the group that had no sugar.

Then analyze the results of what happened during the experiment. We could use a graph or timeline to help illustrate the data collected.

Finally, we need to repeat the experiment. But why? Because a single experiment doesn’t prove anything, only the evidence that it might be true. So, we share what we have learned with others and the experiment is then performed many more times to come to the conclusion that the hypothesis is actually a fact!

Now that we know how scientific method works and why it is important to research. What are some possible obstacles on the road to validate truth from experiments and research?

·         Taking measurement: whatever you are measuring needs to be valid and reliable.

·         Reliability is how accurate the measure is. For example, if you have a bathroom scale that you weigh yourself on and you weigh yourself 3 times within 15 minutes and get the same measurement. Your scale is reliable.

·         Validity has to do with the “what” that is being measured in order to prove the hypothesis. So, if you were trying to prove that a diet of blueberries and peanut butter decreased a person’s blood pressure, the use of a bathroom scale would not be a valid measuring tool but a blood pressure cuff would.

·         Researcher bias is another problem. This means the researcher has allow his or her opinion/ feeling to interfere with the objective of the experiment.  Examples of this are: the wording of the hypothesis- this can influence test subjects, methods of observation, choice of control groups and interpretation of data (if the researcher doesn’t like the results).

Why is this important to the research of marriage and families?

 The same principles apply to the experiments and research that help us understand marriage and families. This knowledge enables us to help people improve their relationships and preserve the most basic and important part of our society. Understanding what valid and reliable studies should look like helps us to navigate through research that may be biased, no valid measuring tool or perhaps no control groups were included.

All these things help us to refine our understand of the accuracy of the research and gather truth about the family.