A Cross-National Study of Effective Macro Factors on Scientific Development

This inquiry is based on four – dimensional concept of society. That is to say society consist of four systems IE. Political, economicel, cultural and communal ones. In this study four basic hypotheses concerning with scientific development are depicted. The first hypothesis considers a reciprocal relationship between level of economic development and growth of empirical sciences. The second hypothesis claims that political development, particularly civil and political freedom, can promote scientific development. The third hypothesis considers cultural development as a facilitating context for scientific development. Finally, the fourth hypothesis believes that societal community development, mainly by providing new social capital can smooth the way for scientific development. These hypotheses in a Cross – nation study and a sample of national study, a sample of 150 countries were tested. Result of multivariate regression analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM) confirmed all four hypotheses. A particular pattern between four key variables and scientific development (as a dependent variable) is also found. Based on the research finding, some basic suggestions for development of science are provided.