issue184 【红尘笑看沧桑】互改小组第4周第1次作业 by 立刻马上

立刻马上UID: 2737860

Issue184:”it is a grave mistake to theorize before one has data.”

Data always play a significant role when forming a theory. Somebody even asserts that it is a grave mistake to therozise before one has data. While the use of data can not be ignored, however, it should also be clarifyed that not all the theories in history are fomulated grounding on data, and that over emphasize on the data might hamper the progress of some pioneering research.

Admittedly, the use of data is an efficient way to shape up new theroies. Data contains the information that hide the relation between the things we concerned, and with the process of analysing the data, the vital connection has been found, and thus a theory has been fomulated. For supporting examples one need look no further than the theory of global warming. Only through the accurate analysis of the temperatures in all ages can scientists conclude that the climate is becoming warmer and warmer. By collecting and analysing the data relevent to the objects they concern, the researchers will obtain the inherent connection, and thus it is helpful to make the proper theory. What’s more, data is also the guarantee that the theory fomulated is correct. Unlike the theories that only thought up only by imagination, most of the conclusions which are based on the analysis of data are more persuasive.

However, there are many reputed theories which proved to be true later was just brought forward as assumption and have no data to support. Albert Enistern, who assumes that small mass can be converted to huge energy, came up with his famous equation: E=mc2. There was no data to prove his assertion at that time; however, after the invention of nuclear weapons, no one can neglect the wisdom in this equation. Through the similar approach, Wenger
proposed the continental drift theory and Richard Feynman put forward the conjecture of nano tecnology, these theories were all advanced without the support of adequete data, but lately proved to be true. Looking back in history, we will find many times that people’s imagination overcame the restriction of lucking in data or scientific instruments, and came up with some striking ideas.

Furthermore, undue emphasize on the importance of data might be counterproductive to the development of some creative and far-sighted theories. Most of the insightful ideas can only be proposed without the limitation of data and fact, when we think in the other perspective, they come. While if the research pay too much attention to the data collection and analysis, he may lose the chance to think outside the box. What’s more, some of the research fields, such as the discovery of world's origin, now can not be supported by data, due to either the lack of scientific instruments to gether adequate data, or the limitation of computer’s calculating ability for analysis. Only with emphasize on data, progresses in those fields would be bogged down.

To sum up, data is very important during the process of forming a theory, however we cannot ignore the side effects of overrateing it. In my perspective, there are two kinds of researching methods; one is theorizing after careful data collection and data analysis, the other is giving a proper assumption, and then finding data to prove it. They can be flexibly used when scholars explore in the new academic fields and discover fresh theories.