Scientific Method

SCIENTIFIC METHOD

by Antonio C. Antonio

February 15, 2015

In more ways than one, research methods are comparable to scientific method.  The Scientific Method is a method or procedure that has characterized natural science since the 17^th Century.  It consists of a systematic process of observation, measurement and experiment, and the formulation, testing and modification of a hypothesis.  The Scientific Method is a process, methodology or procedure by which scientists collect and, over time, endeavour to construct an accurate (meaning: reliable, consistent and non-arbitrary) representation of the world.

It should be noted that individuals have their given biases caused of cultural beliefs, backgrounds and interpretations of natural phenomena.  The aim, purpose and objective of scientific method is to come up and use a set of standard procedures and criteria to minimize the influence of these biases (and even prejudices) when testing a hypothesis and developing a theory.

The Scientific Method is a logical and rational order of steps by which scientists come to conclusions about any conceivable subject matter.  The Scientific Method helps to organize thoughts and procedures so that scientists can be confident in the conclusions the will later make by using observations, hypotheses and deductions. 

The Scientific Method follows the following steps:

Step One:  RESEARCH and OBSERVATION – Observation and description of a phenomenon or a group of phenomena.

Step Two:  HYPOTHESIS – Formulation of a hypothesis to explain the phenomena.

Step Three: PREDICTION – The use of the hypothesis to predict the existence of other phenomena, or to predict quantitatively the results of new observations.

Step Four:  EXPERIMANTATION – Performance of experimental tests of the predictions by several independent experiments and properly performed experiments.

Step Five: CONCLUSION – The final step in the Scientific Method is a summary of the experiment’s results, and how these results match up to the original hypothesis.

Just my little thoughts…

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