A scientist and a person talking about the importance of developing scientific attitude
Answers
Scientific attitude is probably the most important factor in doing research. Scientific attitude means multiple character traits:
Doubting everything: You doubt everything you read and don’t believe anything until you get reliable evidence/proof; you should even doubt your own interpreations, as the famous ancient scientist Ibn Al-Haytham said
“Thus the duty of the man who investigates the writings of scientists, if learning the truth is his goal, is to make himself an enemy of all that he reads, and, applying his mind to the core and margins of its content, attack it from every side. He should also suspect himself as he performs his critical examination of it, so that he may avoid falling into either prejudice or leniency.”
Open-mindedness: You have to be open-minded enough to accept even the evidences that may contradict your long-held beliefs/justifications. That means you expose yourself to all types of scientific literature including those that criticize your works. This attitude will allow you to either correct and thereby improve your research work.
Critical Thinking: This is similar to the first two points: you have to attack and be critical about everything you study or experiment about. Again, this will allow you to find you own or others’ weaknesses.