inventions in the creation of new research instrumentation or instrumental
techniques. For inventions, science provides the scientific feasibility that an invention can actually be made.
Discovery occurs by (1) observation of and/or experiments on nature and(2) analysis of the observations and/or experimental results for empirical patterns
· nature. Both observations and experiments require instruments. The difference
between observations and experiments is that observations note nature as it exists,
whereas experiments control the conditions of observation. Thus, experiments can
often yield more information about nature than uncontrolled observation. Theory
constructed on the basis of empirical data (from observations or experiments).
theory is tested for validity by comparing predictions of the theory to empirical data.
This interaction between (1) theory construction and validation and (2)empirical data patterns from observation and/or experiments is the key of sci~
ti.fie method-understanding of nature as empirically grounded theory.