Scientific observations are accurate.
The scientific observer tries to make sure things are exactly as described and avoids jumping to conclusions. Novelists may fantasize and politicians may exaggerate, but the scientist must try to be accurate.

Scientific observations are precise. Precision refers to degree or measurement. No respectable social scientist would say, "I interviewed a lot of people, and most of them feel that things are terrible," and claim this was a scientific investigation. Since scientific writing is precise, scientists avoid colorful literary extravagances. Tennyson's lines, "Every moment dies a man; every moment one is born," is literature not science. If written with scientific precision it might read, "Every 0.596 seconds, on the average in 1980, died a person; every 0.2448 seconds an infant was born." Literary writing may be intentionally vague, stimulating the reader to wonder what is meant (e.g., was Hamlet insane?), but the dramatic sweep of the novelist and the provocative imagery of the poet have no place in scientific writing. Precision, A billionth of an inch is too large an error for a nuclear physicist; for a social scientist studying crowded housing, a measure to the nearest square foot is satisfactory. Scientists seek as much precision as the situation requires. If conditions of observation do not permit such precision, the scientist must qualify judgment until more precise observations can be collected.

Scientific observations are systematic. Conclusions based on casual recollections are unreliable. Judgments which begin with, "I've talked to a lot of people and ..." should be classed as conversation not as research. Unless observations have been collected in an organized, systematic program, they are likely to be spotty and incomplete.

Scientific observations are recordable. Human memory is notoriously fallible. Suppose a professor says, "Women usually don't do as well in this course as men." Unless this professor has computed average scores for men and women students, he is saying, "I have recalled the grades of hundreds of students, mentally computed averages, and found the male average score to be higher." The utter absurdity of such a statement shows how untrustworthy are all conclusions based upon recalling unrecorded data.


Scientific observations are objective.
This means that, observation is unaffected by the observer's own belief, preferences, wishes, or values. In other words, objectivity means the ability to see and accept facts as they are, not as one might wish them to be. It is fairly easy to be objective when observing something about which we have no preferences or values. It is fairly easy to study objectively the mating practices of the fruit fly, but less easy to view the mating practices of the human being with objective detachment. On any matter where our emotions, beliefs, habits, and values are involved, we are likely to see whatever agrees with our emotional needs and values. To be objective is perhaps the most taxing of all scientific obligations. It is not enough to be willing to see facts as they are. We must know what our biases are if we are to guard against them. A bias is simply a tendency, usually unconscious to see facts in ones own way because one's habits, wishes, interests, and values. Thus, a "peace demonstration" is seen by some as a courageous effort to save the world from collective suicide, while others see it as a misguided effort to replace hard-headed realism with idealistic mush.

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