What is science?
Science refers to the application of objective methods of investigation, reasoning and logic to develop a body of knowledge about given phenomena. There are three goals of science. The first is to explain why something happens. The second is to make generalizations, that is, to go beyond the individual cases and make statements that apply to a collectivity. The third is to predict, to specify, what will happen in future, in the light of available stock of knowledge.
The idea of scientific research is to acquire objective knowledge, free of bias and prejudice. This is why insistence in sociology is to achieve natural sciences. The proper method of science is to have constant test of explanatory propositions by matching them against facts whether obtained experimentally or empirically. In this context, sociology is a science because it fulfills the basic requirements of objective and rational knowledge of social reality and applies scientific method. Johnson viewed that sociology to some extent has the following characteristics of science:
(a) It is theoretical: It attempts to summarize complex observations in abstract logically related propositions, which purport to explain causal relationships in the subject matter. Its main aim is to interpret and to inter-relate sociological data in order to explain the nature of social phenomena and to produce hypotheses whose final validity can be checked by further empirical research.
(b) It is empirical: It is based on observation and reasoning, not on supernatural speculative revelations, and its results are not speculative. In the early stages of their creative work, all scientists speculate, of course, but ideally atleast, they submit their speculations to the test of fact before announcing them as scientific discovers. All aspects of sociological knowledge are subject to evaluation made about social behaviour or can be put to test for empirical evidence.
(c) It is cumulative: sociological theories are built upon one another, extending and refining the older ones and producing the new ones. As such theoretical integration becomes a goal in the construction of sociological formulations. Thus, sociology is cumulative.
(d) It is non-ethical: Sociologists do not ask whether particular social actions are good or bad; they seek merely to explain them. It addresses issues. Study of human relations is the prime consideration in sociology. In the context, Morris Ginsberg observes that ethical problems should be dealt with neutrality. Objectivity and rationality based on a thorough knowledge of a situation alone can ensure scientific status to discipline of sociology.
In all these respect, sociology is far from having reached perfection; but is being steadily made.
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