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Issue157:
There is no such thing as purely objective observation. All observation is subjective; it is always guided by the observer's expectations or desires.

546 words

Although science is an objective discipline, observation, as the basis of science, can never be purely objective. This statement sounds weird, but it is the truth. All observation is subjective; it is always guided by the observer’s expectations or desires.

To begin with, all observation is carried out by human beings, thus inevitably being influenced by the some subjective factors, such as the individual's background information, the education level, and even some religious impact. For example, visiting a museum and observing a painting of the Virgin Mary, a child may acclaim the beauty of the Virgin Mary; a painter may study the brush work; and a Christian may relate it with stories in the Bible. A child has neither education background nor any experience, so he or she is attracted by the surfaces and praise on what is immediately seen. A painter is professional in this field, so he has some background knowledge, and can make more in-depth observation concerning the brush work which he is more interest in. A Christian’s observation is affected by religious belief, so he gets a religious result. This example illustrates that the observation can not avoid influenced by subjective factors.

Furthermore, the observation is, to some extend, guided by the observers' expectations or desires. Expectations and desires always make observers more likely to pay attention to the things that are in accordance to their expectations. Consider, in a soccer match, fans of different teams will have different judgments on whether the ball was out of bound even though they observed the same scene. Expectation influencing observation is a human nature. It functions unconsciously in every observation. This problem can only be solved by means of modern technology.

With the development of science and technology, the subjective influence to observation is gradually waning. For example, there was a soccer match with a contentious result. Fans of the two teams hold different opinion on whether the center of the ball has crossed the goal line or not, because the goal keeper hit the ball out the very moment the ball was above the line. After that game, although the judgment can not be changed, some fans analyzed the video record with the aid of computer closely and proved that the judgment was wrong. Obviously, in this case, video camera and computer helped to make a more objective observation.

In the scientific field, the observation method is improved to be more objective and precise because of the introduction of machines. Many data which used to be read by men is now read by sensors or other machines, which increased the precision. The reason is that the error of man is not a constant value and may be different every time one read, while the error of a machine can be approximately measured or calculated. Although the calculation process is also carried out by man who can not be purely objective, and error can not be avoided on current technological level, machine is at least more objective than man. And the precision and objectiveness will be increase along with the development of science and technology.

To sum up, there is no such thing as purely objective observation, at least in the current world. But the observation will be increasingly more objective in the future.