Substantive Method

What is substantive method? How should it be defined?

Substantive method is one of the key concepts in current scientonomy. Thus, its proper definition is of great importance.

In the scientonomic context, this term was first used by Hakob Barseghyan in 2015. The term is currently accepted by Scientonomy community.

In Scientonomy, the accepted definition of the term is:

• A method which presupposes at least one contingent proposition.

Scientonomic History

Acceptance Record

Here is the complete acceptance record of this question (it includes all the instances when the question was accepted as a legitimate topic for discussion by a community):

Community	Accepted From	Acceptance Indicators	Still Accepted	Accepted Until	Rejection Indicators
Scientonomy	1 January 2016	The term became accepted together with the whole theory of scientific change.	Yes

All Theories

The following theories have attempted to answer this question:

Theory	Formulation	Formulated In
Substantive Method (Barseghyan-2015)	A method which presupposes at least one contingent proposition.	2015

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Accepted Theories

The following theories have been accepted as answers to this question:

Community	Theory	Accepted From	Accepted Until
Scientonomy	Substantive Method (Barseghyan-2015)	1 January 2016

Suggested Modifications

According to our records, there have been no suggested modifications on this topic.

Current View

Currently, substantive method is defined as a method which presupposes at least one contingent proposition. 1p. 219

In Scientonomy, the accepted definition of the term is Substantive Method (Barseghyan-2015).

Substantive Method (Barseghyan-2015) states: "A method which presupposes at least one contingent proposition."

According to this definition, what separates substantive methods from procedural methods is that the former presuppose some contingent propositions about the world, such as theories from physics, chemistry, biology, social sciences, or even metaphysics. An example of a substantive method is the double-blind trial method; it presupposes several contingent propositions such as unaccounted for effects thesis, placebo effect thesis, experimenter’s bias thesis, and so on.1p. 219

Related Topics

This question is a subquestion of Method.

This topic is also related to the following topic(s):

• Mechanism of Method Employment
• Procedural Method