PART III KEY DIFFERENCES BETWEEN NATURAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
3.1 Introductio tion Social science and natural science are two subjects that difer rom each other in the terms o their subject matters. matters. Beore Beore identiyi identiying ng diferences diferences between Natural Science and Social Science, the term Science has to be dened.
Science
is
the
process
o
gaining
knowledge
through
experim experimentat entation. ion. lso Science Science can be described described as a methodolog methodology y used to understand our world. Natura Naturall Scienc Science e includ includes es the subjec subjectt such such as !hemi !hemistr stry, y, "hysic "hysics, s, "lant "lant scie sc ienc nce, e,
Biol Biolog ogy y
etc. etc.
Soci Social al
Scie Scienc nce e
co#e co#ers rs
subj su bjec ects ts
lik like
Soci Sociol olog ogy, y,
nthropolog nthropology, y, $conomics, $conomics, "oliti "olitical cal Science, Science, %eography, %eography, &anagement &anagement etc. 'he primary diference is the subject matter. (ne studies )nature,) another studies people, social groups, etc. 'here is one big diference with natural sciences they are objecti#e. 'hey only work with acts with sociology it really is subjecti#e. lso there are diferent *esearch *esearch methods.
3.2 K! Conc"t#$%i&#$Id'#
Natural science studies about nature, such as earth, mountains and streams, stars, elements, atoms and molecules, gra#itational and magnetic and electrical orce, light. +hereas social science studies human societies and, to some degree, the artiacts and institutions that these societies produce and through which they operate. Sciences like biology and psychology ha#e both naturalscientic and socialscientic components, since they deal with human beings both as natural beings that is in terms o eatures that non human animals and nonli#ing things ha#e too. eatures like )ha#ing a digesti#e system) and )being made o atoms) and social beings. Natural sciences are sometimes called the hard sciences. 'hese are subjects such as chemistry, physics, astronomy, biology, earth science, atmospheric science, materials science, and oceanography. 'hese elds all study about the world and how it works. !hemistry is the study o matter. +hen you study chemistry, you learn about what makes up matter, atoms. -ou learn about atomic structure and how molecules orm and bond. -ou learn how matter reacts and changes state. $arth science is the study o planet $arth. 'his eld studies soil, geology, minerals, rocks, precious stones, plate tectonics and #olcanoes, among other topics. "hysics is the study o what composes the uni#erse and how the orces interact with matter and each other. stronomy is the study o the ormation and de#elopment o the uni#erse, planets, comets, stars, galaxies, celestial mechanics, red shit, blue shit, and e#erything else that happens in space. Biology is the study o li#ing things. ow to bodies work/ +hat0s diferent between a plant and a animal. 'he
social sciences1 methodology starts with an assumption and is gradually lled by a series o experiments and obser#ations. 'he data collection methods are oten done by a #ariety o techni2ues like eld obser#ation, inter#iews,
and
ocus
group
discussions.
'he experiments and the data collected done in social sciences denote spontaneity and deal with emotions o the people in#ol#ed.
Social sciences operate on an open system where uncontrollable #ariables are expected. 3t is also considered as a cumulati#e science which is characteri4ed by progress as the study goes on. Social science is the eld o study concerned with society. 'he biggest diference or social sciences is, howe#er, that social sciences deal with people. )Social science) is commonly used as an umbrella term to reer to a plurality o elds outside o the natural sciences. Social Science elds o study usually ha#e se#eral subdisciplines or branches, and the distinguishing lines between these are oten both arbitrary and ambiguous. 5nder the natural sciences we study subjects like nthropology, $conomics, uman %eography, $ducation, 6inguistic etc. 7or an example $conomics is a social science that seeks to analy4e and describe the production, distribution, and consumption o wealth. nthropology deals with how people interact with other people and how our cultures work. rchaeology studies remnants o buried ci#ili4ations. $conomics is the study o money, the production o goods, and the distribution o those goods. uman geography studies how humans are distributed on the earth and how we change and manage the earth. $ducation can be a science too. "eople study which methods are best or learning. istory is the study o the past. Since history re2uires the written records and anything beore then is prehistory, history is also the study o peoplepeople o the past. 6inguistics is the study o human language. 3t raises 2uestions like ow did language de#elop/ +hen do kids learn to speak/ ow do we learn multiple languages/
ow are the sounds and syntax diferent between languages/ ow does language e#ol#e o#er time/ "olitical science deals with politics. "olitics concerns itsel about how stuf is distributed among people. "sychology is the study o our brains. 3t raises 2uestions like ow do we think/ +hat can go wrong with the brain/ ow can we x our thoughts and beha#iors/ Sociology is the study o our societies and how people relate and interact with each other. Sociologists asks 2uestions like how do humans beha#e in society/ 'he basis o the natural sciences is the experimental data. $xperimental data relies
on
repeated
experiments,
laboratory
testing,
and
constant
reproductions o results. 'he methodology o natural or physical science is oten characteri4ed as xed and straightorward with the constant element o standard measurements. 'he methodology also employs experiments. 8ata rom these experiments oten represent predictability and rationality. "hysical and natural science works in a closed system where #ariables can be controlled, and the work is executed within a particular ramework or paradigm. 'he basis o social sciences is the experiential data. $xperiential data tries to establish social phenomena and are not easily reproduced in a laboratory or in any experiment. So, again, the natural sciences deal with the study o the uni#erse and the earth. Social sciences deal with people. 'hese debates also rage within contemporary social sciences with regard to subjecti#ity, objecti#ity, and practicality in the conduct o theory and research. "hilosophers o social science examine urther epistemologies and methodologies,
including
positi#ism,
postpositi#ism
9phenomenology:,
critical theory like 7eminists, "ostmodernists.
"hilosophers o social science are concerned with the diferences and similarities between the social and the natural sciences. Science appeared to be capable o producing objecti#e knowledge that could be used to sol#e human problems and increase human producti#e capacity. &any early social
scientists chose to turn to natural science or a methodology on which to base their subject. But social researchers studying human beha#ior is undamentally diferent rom studying the natural world. 5nlike the subject matter natural sciences, people possess consciousness, which means it re2uires a diferent type o methodology
3.3 Conc(u#ion &ajor diference between the Natural Sciences and Social Sciences is the subject matter. Natural Science is about the nature and Social Science is about humans. 'here are many #arieties o subjects in both Natural Sciences and Social Sciences. Natural Science mostly in#ol#es 6ab $xperiments and Social Science in#ol#es hypothesis and e#aluation o the same. s the studies o Natural Science is done using scientic ormulas and theories it tends to be more accurate than that experiments o Social Sciences as their experiments are totally based on participation o a group o humans in inter#iews, group discussions etc.
*eerences
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