Sjoberg and Nett. Pp. 23-24.

A minimum set of assumptions (often left unstated) which underlie the application of the scientific method are (1) that there exists a definite order of recurrence of events. (2) that knowledge is superior to ignorance, (3) that a communication tie, based upon sense impressions, exists between the scientists and “external reality” (the so-called “empirical assumption’), and (4) that there are cause-and-effect relationships within the physical and social orders. .. (5) there are certain “observer” assumptions: (a) that the observer is driven to attain knowledge by his desire to ameliorate human conditions, (b) that the observer has the capacity to conceptually relate observations and impute meanings to events, and (c) that society will sustain the observer in his pursuit of knowledge.