<P> Thomas Kuhn examined the history of science in his The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, and found that the actual method used by scientists differed dramatically from the then - espoused method . His observations of science practice are essentially sociological and do not speak to how science is or can be practiced in other times and other cultures . </P> <P> Norwood Russell Hanson, Imre Lakatos and Thomas Kuhn have done extensive work on the "theory laden" character of observation . Hanson (1958) first coined the term for the idea that all observation is dependent on the conceptual framework of the observer, using the concept of gestalt to show how preconceptions can affect both observation and description . He opens Chapter 1 with a discussion of the Golgi bodies and their initial rejection as an artefact of staining technique, and a discussion of Brahe and Kepler observing the dawn and seeing a "different" sun rise despite the same physiological phenomenon . Kuhn and Feyerabend acknowledge the pioneering significance of his work . </P> <P> Kuhn (1961) said the scientist generally has a theory in mind before designing and undertaking experiments so as to make empirical observations, and that the "route from theory to measurement can almost never be traveled backward". This implies that the way in which theory is tested is dictated by the nature of the theory itself, which led Kuhn (1961, p. 166) to argue that "once it has been adopted by a profession...no theory is recognized to be testable by any quantitative tests that it has not already passed". </P> <P> Paul Feyerabend similarly examined the history of science, and was led to deny that science is genuinely a methodological process . In his book Against Method he argues that scientific progress is not the result of applying any particular method . In essence, he says that for any specific method or norm of science, one can find a historic episode where violating it has contributed to the progress of science . Thus, if believers in scientific method wish to express a single universally valid rule, Feyerabend jokingly suggests, it should be' anything goes' . Criticisms such as his led to the strong programme, a radical approach to the sociology of science . </P>

What does experiment mean in the scientific method