Is science objective?

Short answer: no. And this is one of the reasons that feminist science studies is particularly important.

Invisible biases from popular culture are woven into hypotheses and research without notice every day. Lets unpack this taking the scientific method into account. When we practice science we draw from observation to formulate our research agendas and hypotheses. We then conduct a repeatable experiment and interpret our data. As noted by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (1999) there are several points in which our own social, political and/or personal interests can affect the data we produce;

 Social, political or personal interests can affect:

   —how scientists set priorities for scientific investigation;


   —what questions are posed about a topic;


   —what explanatory framework or theory frames a scientific study;

   —what methods are used;


   —what data are considered valid and invalid;


   —how data are interpreted;


   —how data in one study are compared to data in other studies;

   —what conclusions are drawn from the analysis of scientific data;   and

   —what recommendations are made for future studies.

                                                            (AAC&U, 1999:5)

By pointing out ways in which science can be influenced by societal agendas and ideals, feminist science scholars aim to address and deconstruct the belief that science is wholly objective.

Furthermore, the way we are taught to write science works to covers up any ideas that subjectivity exists within the field. Our laboratory reports and manuscripts often include phrases like The findings suggest… and Increased ____ indicates _____. These phrases strip the context and ourselves out of our findings effectively diminishing the idea that personal interests may be inadvertently sewn into the science we produce; they make it appear as if our findings are concrete and not just a possible explanation or interpretation that we made in our head (Hubbard p 157).“Feminists must insist that subjectivity and context cannot be stripped away, that they must be acknowledged if we want to use science as a way to understand nature and society and to use the knowledge we gain constructively” (Hubbard 158).