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How to Use the Scientific Method for Scientific Discoveries
Thursday, April 23, 2009
InstructionsHow to Use the Scientific Method for Scientific DiscoveriesStep 1: Define your problem. In other words, state a question that you wish to be answered. You can't expect to resolve an issue unless you know exactly what the issue is. This is often trickier than you might expect; it's sometimes very easy to miss the central issue.Step 2: Gather data. The more exhaustive your research, the better your chances of producing accurate results.Step 3: Theorize. Form a tentative hypothesis based on the evidence you've examined. State the theory as precisely as you can; otherwise, you may cause other people (or yourself) to jump to conclusions that aren't warranted.Step 4: Experiment. Apply your theory to the evidence you've gathered, and to some additional data, to make certain that it fits.Step 5: Finalize. Draw a conclusion based on the results of your experiments. It may not necessarily be the same as the tentative conclusion you put forth in Step 3. And again, it should be as specific as possible.
Tips & Warnings- While these steps are the basis of the classic method, scientists later added a sixth step: verify the conclusion with additional tests. Sometimes these steps will be broken down into additional steps.
- The scientific method is a powerful tool that has transformed the world; but it's only as accurate as the person using it. You can use it to produce either significant breakthroughs or sheer quackery, depending on how meticulously and conscientiously you follow each step. In particular, there is a real danger in taking Step 3 too soon. If you have a hypothesis from the beginning, you may find yourself "cherry picking" data to fit it, and it's unlikely that your conclusion will reflect reality.No matter how exhaustively the method is applied, it is generally impossible to prove anything for certain. Thus, Einstein's observation that "no amount of experimentation can ever prove me right; a single experiment can prove me wrong." But certainty increases with the extensiveness of the research and the reliability of the data. If you are doing an experiment involving tree frogs, for instance, it would be quite impractical to study every tree frog in the world. But you can draw reasonable inferences about every tree frog in the world if you study a well-chosen sample. Well-chosen means not only sufficiently large, but also selected at random to eliminate the influence of factors (e.g., age or geographic origin) having no relevance to your study.
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