Scientific Methods in Computer Science

Gordana Dodig-Crnkovic
Department of Computer Science
Mälardalen University
Västerås, Sweden
+46 21 15 17 25
[Link]-crnkovic@[Link]
ABSTRACT 2. WHAT IS SCIENCE
This paper analyzes scientific aspects of Computer Science. First it
defines science and scientific method in general. It gives a discus- The whole is more than the sum of its parts.
sion of relations between science, research, development and tech-
Aristotle, Metaphysica
nology.
The existing theory of science (Popper, Carnap, Kuhn, Chalmers) 2.1 Classical Sciences
has Physics as an ideal. Not many sciences come close to that Talking about “Science” we actually mean plurality of different
ideal. Philosophy of Science (Theory of Science) as it is today is not sciences. Different sciences differ very much from each other.
of much help when trying to analyze Computer Science. The definition of science is therefore neither simple nor unambigu-
Computer Science is a new field and its object of investigation (uni- ous. See [1] and [2] for several possible classifications. For exam-
verse) is a computer, which is an ever-developing artifact, the mate- ple, history and linguistics are often but not always catalogued as
rialization of the ideas that try to structure knowledge and the infor- sciences.
mation about the world, including computers themselves.
However different, Computer Science has its basis in Logic and
Mathematics, and both theoretical and experimental research meth- Logic
&
ods follow patterns of classical scientific fields. Computer modeling Mathematics
and simulation as a method is specific for the discipline, and it is 1
going to develop even more in the future, not only applied to com- Natural Sciences
puters, but also to other scientific as well as commercial and artistic (Physics,
Chemistry,
fields. Biology, …)
2

Keywords
Computer Science, Theory of science, scientific methodology. Social Sciences
(Economics,
Sociology,
1. INTRODUCTION Anthropology, …)
3
It is not so obvious, as the name might suggest, that the Computer
Science qualifies as “science”. Computer Science (CS) is a young
discipline and necessarily starting from the outset very different
from Mathematics, Physic and similar “classic” sciences, that all
The Humanities
have their origins in the philosophy of ancient Greece. (Philosophy, History,
Linguistics …)
4
Emerging in modern time (in 1940's the first electronic digital
Culture
computer was built), CS has necessarily other already existing sci- (Religion, Art, …)
5
ences in the background.
Computer Science draws its foundations from a wide variety of
disciplines. Study of Computer Science consequently requires utiliz- Figure 1 What is science? One possible view.
ing concepts from many different fields. Computer Science inte-
grates theory and practice, abstraction (general) and design (spe- From the chosen scheme of the figure above we can realize that
cific). sciences have specific areas of validity. The Logic and Mathe-
matics (the most abstract and at the same time the most exact sci-
The historical development has led to emergence of a big number of ences) are more or less important part of every other science. They
sciences that communicate more and more not only because the are very essential for Physics, less important for Chemistry and
means of communication are getting very convenient and effective, Biology, and their significance continues to decrease towards the
but also because a need increases for getting a holistic view of our outer regions of our scheme.
world, that is presently strongly dominated by reductionism.
The logical reasoning as a basis of all human knowledge is of course
present in every kind of science as well as in philosophy.
The structure of Figure 1 may be seen in analogy with looking into a axiomatized. Even less so is the case for experimental Physics, for
microscope. With the highest resolution we can reach the innermost quite obvious reasons.
region. Inside the central region Logic is not only the tool used to Natural sciences are dominated by a method that Popper calls hy-
make conclusions. It is at the same time the object of investiga- potetico-deductive method.
tion. Even though big parts of Mathematics can be reduced to
Logic (Frege, Rusell and Whitehead) the complete reduction is im- Social Sciences include sociology, pedagogic, anthropology, eco-
possible. nomics etc. The objects studied are humans as social beings, alone
or in a group. Social sciences primarily rely on the qualitative meth-
On every step of zooming out, the inner regions are given as ods. The aim is to understand (in the sense of hermeneutics) and
prerequisites for the outer ones. Physics is using Mathematics describe phenomena. The quantitative aspects of their methodology
and Logic as tools, without questioning their internal structure. In are related to statistical methods.
that way information about the deeper structure of Mathematics and
Logic is hidden looking from the outside. In much the same way, The Humanities (The Liberal Arts) include philosophy, history,
Physics is a prerequisite for Chemistry that is a hidden level inside linguistics and similar. The difference between Humanities and
Biology etc. Social Science is not a very sharp one, but we can say that Hu-
manities predominantly have a qualitative approach, and very rarely
The basic idea of Figure 1 is to show in a schematic way the rela- depend on any statistical methods.
tion between the three main groups of sciences (Logic & Mathe- Figure 1 represents a dynamic scheme seen in a specific moment.
matics, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences) as well as the con- For example a corresponding scheme for the medieval sciences
nections to thought systems represented by the Humanities. would be very different. In other words, culture is like a flow that
all sciences follow. Albeit very slow, that flow steadily changes the
Finally the whole body of human knowledge, scientific and specula- framework for all the sciences.
tive is immersed in and impregnated by the cultural environment.
2.2 Sciences Belonging to Several Fields
Table 1 Sciences, objects and methods The development of human thought parallel to the development of
DOMINATING human society has led to an emergence of sciences that do not
SCIENCE OBJECTS
METHOD belong to any of the classic types we have described earlier (see
Reductionism Figure 1), but rather share common parts with several of these.
Simple
(analysis)
Many of the modern sciences are of interdisciplinary, “eclectic”
Logic & Abstract objects:
Deduction type. It is a trend for new sciences to search their methods and
Mathematics propositions, numbers, ...
even questions in very broad areas. It can be seen as a result of the
Natural objects: physical fact that the communications across the borders of different scie n-
Natural Sci- Hypothetico-deductive
bodies, fields and interac- tific fields is nowadays much easier and more intense than before.
ences method
tions, living organisms ...
Social objects: Hypothetico-deductive Computer Science for example includes the field of artificial intelli-
Social Sci- gence that has its roots in mathematical Logic and Mathematics but
human individuals, groups, method
ences uses Physics, Chemistry and Biology and even has parts where
society, + Hermeneutics
Cultural objects: human medicine and psychology are very important.
ideas, actions and rela- We seem to be witnessing an exciting paradigm shift:
Humanities Hermeneutics
tionships, language, arti-
facts… We should, by the way, be prepared for some radical, and per-
Complex Holism (synthesis) haps surprising, transformations of the disciplinary structure of
science (technology included) as information processing per-
The innermost sciences, Logic and Mathematics are the most vades it. In particular, as we become more aware of the de-
fundamental ones and the ones with the highest degree of certainty. tailed information processes that go on in doing science, the
They have the most abstract and the simplest objects of investiga- sciences will find themselves increasingly taking a meta-
tion. Their language is the most formal one. They rely predominantly position, in which doing science (observing, experimenting,
on the deductive method. It is however important to notice that the theorizing, testing, archiving,) will involve understanding these
basic elements in both Logic and Mathematics have been ex- information processes, and building systems that do the object-
tracted from our real-life language and purified into set of well level science. Then the boundaries between the enterprise of
defined formulae/symbolic expressions via an essentially in- science as a whole (the acquisition and organization of knowl-
ductive process. edge of the world) and AI (the understanding of how knowl-
edge is acquired and organized) will become increasingly
The next region, Natural Sciences, is not an axiomatized theory as fuzzy.
the previous one. Physics, which is the ideal of science for many
philosophers of science (Popper, Carnap, Kuhn, Chalmers [4-7]) Allen Newell, Artif. Intell. 25 (1985) 3.
contains both theoretical parts with pure mathematical formulations Here we can find a potential of the new synthetic (holistic) world-
derived from “first principles” and parts that are empirical i.e. short- view that is about to emerge in the future.
cut expressions for observed facts that are built-in into system as
they proved useful. Far away from all theoretical Physics can be
3. THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD

The scientific method is the logical scheme used by scientists

HYPOTHESIS
searching for answers to the questions posed within science. Scie n-
2
tific method is used to produce scientific theories, including both WONDER: START FROM
scientific meta-theories (theories about theories) as well as the theo- EXISTING THEORIES
AND OBSERVATIONS
ries used to design the tools for producing theories (instruments, 1 HYPOTHESIS MUST BE
ADJUSTED
algorithms, etc). The simple version looks something like this (see HYPOTHESIS MUST BE PREDICTIONS
also Figure 2): THOROUGHLY
REDEFINED 3

1. Pose the question in the context of existing knowledge (theory TESTS AND NEW
OBSERVATIONS
& observations). It can be a new question that old theories are 4
capable of answering (usually the case), or the question that SELECTION AMONG
COMPETING
calls for formulation of a new theory. THEORIES
CONSISTENCY
6 ACHIEVED
2. Formulate a hypothesis as a tentative answer.
3. Deduce consequences and make predictions. OLD THEORY
CONFIRMED
(within a new context) or
4. Test the hypothesis in a specific experiment/theory field. The NEW THEORY
PROPOSED
new hypothesis must prove to fit in the existing world-view (1, 5
“normal science”, according to Kuhn).
In case the hypothesis leads to contradictions and demands a Figure 2 Diagram describing iterative nature of the scientific
radical change in the existing theoretical background, it has to method (hypothetico-deductive)
be tested particularly carefully. The new hypothesis has to
prove fruitful and offer considerable advantages, in order It is crucial to understand that the Logic of science is recursive.
to replace the existing scientific paradigm. This is called Prior to every observation/experiment/theoretical test it is a hy-
“scientific revolution” (Kuhn) and it happens very rarely. As pothesis (2) that has its origins in the pre-existing body of knowledge
a rule, the loop 2-3-4 is repeated with modifications of the hy- (1). Every experimental/observational result has a certain world-
pothesis until the agreement is obtained, which leads to 5. If view built-in. Or, to say it by Feyerabend [8], every experimental
major discrepancies are found the process must start from the data is “theory-contaminated”.
beginning, 1.
Here it is also interesting to mention that designing new experimen-
5. When consistency is obtained the hypothesis becomes a theory tal equipment or procedure match the same scheme:
and provides a coherent set of propositions that define a new (1) Start from existing theoretical/experimental framework; (2)
class of phenomena or a new theoretical concept. The results Formulate the problem; (3) Infer consequences; (4) Test if it works
have to be published. Theory at that stage is subject of proc- as expected; (5-6) Accept.
ess of ”natural selection” among competing theories (6). A
theory is then becoming a framework within which observa- As soon as a piece of equipment or method is designed and used as
tions/theoretical facts are explained and predictions are made. a tool for testing new hypotheses, it is supposed that it works ac-
The process can start from the beginning, but the state 1 has cording to the design specification. The detailed information about
changed to include the new theory/improved old theory. its internal structure is therefore hidden.
The same is true for the existing theoretical context of a theory
Figure 2 describes very generally the logical structure of scien- under development- it is taken for granted.
tific method used in developing new theories. As the flow dia- The scheme of the scientific method in Figure 2 is without a doubt
gram suggests, science is in a state of permanent change and an abstraction and simplification. Critics of the hypothetico-
development. deductive method would argue that there is in fact no such thing as
The one of the most important qualities of science is its provisional “the scientific method”. By the term “the scientific method” they
character: it is subject to continuous re-examination and self- actually mean the concrete set of rules defining how to proceed
correction. in posing new relevant questions and formulating successful
hypotheses.
The important advantage of the scientific method is that it is impar-
tial:1 one does not have to believe a given researcher, one can (in

1
Impartial is used here as synonymous for objective, unbiased,
unprejudiced, and dispassionate. Note, however that this is the
statement about science, not about individual scientists whose
attitude to their pursuit is as a rule passionate. The fact that sci-
ence is shared by the whole scientific community results in theo-
ries that are in a great extent free from individual bias. On the
other hand the whole of scientific community use to share com-
principle) repeat the experiment and determine whether certain
results are valid or not. The conclusions will hold irrespective of the
state of mind, or the religious persuasion, or the state of conscious-
ness of the investigator. The question of impartiality is closely re-
lated to openness and universality of science, which are its fun-
damental qualities.
A theory is accepted based in the first place on the results obtained
through logical reasoning, observations and/or experiments. The
results obtained using the scientific method have to be reproduci-
ble. If the original claims are not verified, the causes of such dis-
crepancies are exhaustively studied.
All scientific truths are provisional. But for a hypothesis to get the
status of a theory it is necessary to win the confidence of the scie n-
tific community. In the fields where there are no commonly ac-
cepted theories (as e.g. explanation of the process of creation of the
Figure 3 Relations between science, research, development
universe- where the “big bang” hypothesis is the most popular one)
and technology
the number of alternative hypotheses can constitute the body of
scientific knowledge.
5. WHAT IS COMPUTER SCIENCE?
Of course it is impossible to give a unique and simple definition of
4. SCIENCE, RESEARCH, TECHNOLOGY Computer Science. Let me mention some of existing ones:
1. Computer Science is the study of phenomena related to com-
4.1 Aristotle's Science contra Technology puters, Newell, Perlis and Simon, 1967
In his famous reflections on science and technology, Aristotle has 2. The discipline of computing is the systematic study of algo-
identified some key distinctions that are still frequently quoted and rithmic processes that describe and transform information: their
even used to analyze modern science and technology. theory, analysis, design, efficiency, implementation, and appli-
Table 2 Standard distinctions: science vs. technology cation [3], 2001. (Compare to: Computer Science is the study
of algorithms, Knuth, 1968)
Science Technology
3. Computer Science is the study of information structures, Weg-
Object unchangeable changeable
ner, 1968, Curriculum 68
Principle of motion inside outside
End knowing the general knowing the concrete 4. Computer Science is the study and management of complexity,
Activity theoria: end in itself poiesis: end in something else Dijkstra, 1969. [9]
Method abstraction modeling concrete (complex) 5. Computer Science is the mechanization of abstraction, Aho
Process conceptualizing optimizing and Ullman1992 [10]
Innovation form discovery invention
Type of result law-like statements rule-like statements
The first definition reflects an empirical tradition since it asserts
Time perspective long-term short-term
that Computer Science is concerned with the study of a class of
phenomena. The second and third definitions reflect a mathematical
tradition since algorithms and information structures are two ab-
4.2 Modern Science contra Technology stractions from the phenomena of Computer Science.
Traditional sharp binary distinctions between science and technology The third definition was used by Wegner as the unifying abstraction
seem however to fail when applied to contemporary science, be- in his book on Programming Languages, Information Structures and
cause the underlying concepts of science are out-dated. Today's Machine Organization. This view of Computer Science has its his-
science is much more complex and heterogeneous than science of torical roots in information theory. It strongly influenced the devel-
the Aristotle’s time (the contemporary relations are illustrated by opment of Curriculum 68; a document which has been very promi-
Figure 3); the fact that many modern philosophers have difficulty to nent in the development of undergraduate Computer Science curric-
admit. ula. It is implicit in the German and French use of the respective
That is why philosophy of science is in vital need of a deeper, more terms "Informatik" and "Informatique" to denote the discipline of
realistic understanding of contemporary sciences. The time is ripe Computer Science.
for paradigm change in philosophy of science! It is interesting to note that the British term "Computer Science" has
an empirical orientation, while the corresponding German and
French terms have an abstract orientation. This difference in termi-
nology appears to support the view that the nineteenth-century traits
mon paradigms, which are the very broad concepts deeply of British empiricism and continental abstraction have persisted.
rooted in the culture. Paradigm shift is a process that occurs
The view that information is the central idea of Computer Science is
in a very dramatic way, partly because of cultural (not strictly
both scientifically and sociologically suggestive. Scientifically, it
rational) nature of paradigm, (Kuhn).
suggests a view of Computer Science as a generalization of infor- This tendency matches the inclination to appreciate the significance
mation theory that is concerned not only with the transmission of of computers solely in their capacity of tools.
information but also with its transformation and interpretation. Computer Science does not deal merely with computer use, tech-
Sociologically, it suggests an analogy between the industrial revolu- nology or software. It is a science that encompasses abstract
tion, which is concerned with the utilizing of energy, and the com- mathematical thinking and includes an element of engineering. The
puter revolution, which is concerned with the utilizing of information. mathematical element is expressed in finding solutions to problems,
The fourth definition reflects the great complexity of engineering or in proving that the solutions do not exist, while the engineering
problems encountered in managing the construction of complex element demands skills for designing complex software systems.
software-hardware systems.
It is argued in [9] that Computer Science was dominated by empiri- 6. SCIENTIFIC METHODS OF CS
cal research paradigms in the 1950s, by mathematical research Basically in as far as CS is a science we find all features of classi-
paradigms in the 1960s and by engineering oriented paradigms be- cal scientific methods in it. Our scheme of Figure 2 is applicable
ginning with the 1970s. here as well.
The diversity of research paradigms in Computer Science may be What is specific for CS is that its object of investigation is an arti-
responsible for divergences of opinion concerning the nature of fact (computer) that changes concurrently with the development of
Computer Science research. theories describing it and simultaneously with the growing practical
The fundamental question underlying all computing is: What can be experience in its usage. Computer in 1940s is not the same as com-
(efficiently) automated? puter in 1970s that is different from computer in 2002. Even the task
of defining what is computer year 2002 is far from trivial.
Computer Science is a field of study that is concerned with theoreti-
cal and applied disciplines in the development and use of computers 6.1 Theoretical Computer Science
for information storage and processing, Mathematics, Logic, sci- Concerning Theoretical Computer Science, which adhere to the
ence, and many other areas. traditions of Logic and Mathematics, we can conclude that it follows
The discipline was born in 1940s through the joining of Mathemati- the very classical methodology of building theories as logical sys-
cal Logic, algorithm theory and electronic computer. tems with stringent definitions of objects (axioms) and operations
(rules) for deriving/proving theorems.
Logic is important not only because it forms the basis of every pro-
gramming language, or because of its investigating into the limits of The key recurring concepts fundamental for computing are [10]:
automatic calculation, but also because of its insight that strings of
− Conceptual and formal models
symbols (also encoded as numbers) can be interpreted both as data
and as programs. − Levels of abstraction

Sub-areas of computing according to [3]: − Efficiency

Data models [10] are used to formulate different mathematical
1. Discrete Structures concepts. In CS a data model has two aspects: the values that data
2. Programming Fundamentals objects can assume and the operations on the data. Here are some
typical data models:
3. Algorithms and Complexity
− The tree data model (the abstraction that models hierarchical
4. Programming Languages
data structure)
5. Architecture and Organization
− The list data models (can be viewed as special case of tree,
6. Operating Systems but with some additional operations like push and pop. Char-
7. Net-Centric Computing acter strings are an important kinds of lists)
8. Human-Computer Interaction − The set data model (the most fundamental data model of
Mathematics. Every concept in Mathematics, from trees to
9. Graphics and Visual Computing
real numbers can be expressed as a special kind of set)
10. Intelligent Systems
− The relational data model (the organization of data into colle c-
11. Information Management tions of two-dimensional tables)
12. Software Engineering − The graph data model (a generalization of the tree data model:
13. Social and Professional Issues directed, undirected, and labeled)
14. Computational Science and Numerical Methods − Patterns, automata and regular expressions
A pattern is a set of objects with some recognizable property.
Dijkstra said that to call the field "Computer Science" is like calling The automaton is a graph-based way of specifying patterns.
surgery "Knife Science". He noted that departments of Computer Regular expression is algebra for describing the same kinds of
Science are exposed to a permanent pressure to overemphasize the patterns that can be described by automata.
"Computer" and to underemphasize the "Science."
Some of the central methodological themes in theoretical Computer With the dramatic changes in computing, the need for dynamic and
Science (inherited from Mathematics) are iteration, induction and flexible Computational Science becomes ever more obvious.
recursion.
Computational Science has emerged, at the intersection of Com-
Iteration. The simplest way to perform a sequence of operations puter Science, applied Mathematics, and science disciplines in both
repeatedly is to use an iterative construct such as for- or while- theoretical investigation and experimentation.
statement.
Recursion. Recursive procedures call themselves either directly or
indirectly. This is self-definition, in which a concept is defined in
terms of it self. (E.g. a list can be defined as being empty list or as
being an element followed by a list). There is no circularity involved
in properly used self-definition, because the self-defined subparts
are always “smaller” than the object being defined. Further, after a
finite number of steps, we arrive at the basis case at which the self-
definition ends.
Induction. Inductive definitions and proofs use basis and inductive Figure 4. Computational Science emerges at the intersection
step to encompass all possible cases. of Computer Science, applied Mathematics and science dis-
ciplines.
In short: theoretical computer science seeks largely to understand
the limits on computation and the power of computational Computer simulation makes it possible to investigate regimes that
paradigms. Theoreticians also develop general approaches to are beyond current experimental capabilities and to study phenom-
problem solving. ena that cannot be replicated in laboratories, such as the evolution of
One of theoretical computer science's most important functions is the universe. In the realm of science, computer simulations are
the distillation of knowledge acquired through conceptualization, guided by theory as well as experimental results, while the compu-
modeling and analysis. Knowledge is accumulating so rapidly that it tational results often suggest new experiments and theoretical mod-
must be collected, condensed and structured in order to get useful. els.
In engineering, many more design options can be explored through
computer models than by building physical ones, usually at a small
6.2 Experimental Computer Science fraction of the cost and elapsed time.
Experimental computer science is most effective on problems that
require complex software solutions such as the creation of software
development environments, the organization of data that is not
tabular, or the construction of tools to solve constrained optimization
problems. The approach is largely to identify concepts that facilitate
solutions to a problem and then evaluate the solutions through
construction of prototype systems [11].

Experiment in different fields (search, automatic theorem proving,

planning, NP-complete problems, natural language, vision, games,
neural nets/connectionism, machine learning) is also used in CS, and
is described by methodology of Figure 2.

6.3 Computer Simulation

In recent years, computation, which comprises computer-based
modeling and simulation, has become the third research methodol-
ogy, complementing theory and experiment.

Today, computing environments and methods for using them have

become powerful enough to tackle problems of great complexity. Figure 5 Simulation: Comparison of four astrophysical
N-body Cold Dark Matter Model variants.
Mastery of Computational Science tools, such as 3D visualization
and computer simulation, efficient handling of large data sets, ability Simulations such as these galaxy formation studies can only be con-
to access a variety of distributed resources and collaborate with ducted on very powerful computers.
other experts over the Internet, etc. are now expected of university
graduates, not necessarily Computer Science majors. Those skills Science often proceeds with bursts of intense research activity.
are becoming a part of scientific culture. Even though the term ''simulation'' is old, it reflects the way in which
a good deal of science will be done in the next century. Scientists
will perform computer experiments in addition to testing scientific 8. REFERENCES
hypotheses by performing experiments on actual physical objects of
investigation. [1] [Link]
Universal Decimal Classification (UDC)
One can also say that simulation represents a fundamental discipline
in its own right regardless of the specific application. If Computer [2] [Link]
Science has its basis in computability theory, then Computational Dewey Decimal Classification
Science has as its basis computer simulation. [3] [Link]
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used for nonlinear systems. Science, NY: Basic Books, 1994
Virtual Reality: Virtual reality is to immerse the analyst within the
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with man-machine hardware interfaces, the technology must incor-
Chicago: Univ. Chicago Press, 1962
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7. CONCLUSIONS
In spite of all characteristics that differ the young field of Computer
Science from several thousand years old sciences such as Mathe-
matics and Logic, we can draw a conclusion that Computer Science
contains a critical mass of scientific features to qualify as science.
From the principal point of view it is important to conclude that all
modern sciences are very much influenced by technology. That is a
natural consequence of the fact that the research leading to the
development of modern sciences is very tightly bound to technology.
This is very much the case for Biology, Chemistry and Physics, and
even more the case for Computer Science that is clearly influenced
by industry via engineering.
Engineering parts in the Computer Science often have connection to
the hardware aspects of computer, but they even appear in form of
software engineering.
Theoretical Computer Science, on the other hand, is scientific in the
same sense as theoretical parts of any other science. It is based on
solid ground of Logic and Mathematics.
The important difference is that the computer (the physical object
that is directly related to the theory) is not a focus of investigation
(not even it he sense of being the cause of certain algorithm pro-
ceeding in certain way) but it is rather theory materialized, a tool
always capable of changing in order to accommodate even more
powerful theoretical concepts.