"The scientific method is an empirical method for acquiring knowledge that has characterized the development of science since at least the 17th century."
A systematic approach to scientific inquiry that involves observation, hypothesis testing, and experimentation.
Epistemology: The branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge and belief, particularly with regard to their scope, limits, and justification.
Ontology: The branch of metaphysics concerned with the nature of existence.
Empiricism: The philosophical theory that all knowledge is derived from sense-experience.
Rationalism: The philosophical theory that certain knowledge can be obtained by reason alone.
Induction: The process of arriving at general principles by observing specific instances.
Deduction: The process of reasoning logically from general principles to specific instances.
Falsifiability: The criterion of a scientific theory's validity that it can be tested by evidence that could potentially disprove it.
Hypothesis: A proposed explanation for a phenomenon that can be tested through experimentation.
Theory: A body of knowledge that has been established through systematic inquiry and experimentation.
Observation: Gathering information about the natural world using the senses or instruments.
Experimentation: The process of testing hypotheses through systematic alteration of variables.
Control group: A group in an experiment that receives no treatment and is used as a baseline for comparison.
Independent variable: The variable in an experiment that is manipulated to test its effects on the dependent variable.
Dependent variable: The variable in an experiment that is affected by the independent variable.
Replication: The process of repeating an experiment to test its validity.
Peer review: The evaluation of scientific work by experts in the same field.
Paradigm shift: A fundamental change in the way scientific questions are answered.
Null hypothesis: A null hypothesis is a statement that there is no significant difference between two sets of data.
Significance level: The significance level is the probability of rejecting the null hypothesis when it is actually true.
Scientific consensus: When the majority of scientists agree on a particular theory or hypothesis.
Inductive Method: This method involves creating a hypothesis based on observations and then conducting experiments to test the hypothesis.
Deductive Method: This method involves starting with a hypothesis and then testing it through experiments.
Hypothetico-Deductive Method: This method combines the inductive and deductive methods and allows for the formulation of multiple hypotheses for testing.
Empirical Method: This method relies on observation and experimentation to gather data and develop theories.
Historical Method: This method involves a study of past events and their relation to scientific phenomena.
Statistical Method: This method uses statistical analysis to determine the probability of an event occurring.
Systematic Method: This method involves the use of a step-by-step approach to gather data and test hypotheses.
"since at least the 17th century (with notable practitioners in previous centuries; see the article history of scientific method for additional detail.)"
"It involves careful observation, applying rigorous skepticism about what is observed, given that cognitive assumptions can distort how one interprets the observation."
"It involves formulating hypotheses, via induction, based on such observations; the testability of hypotheses, experimental and the measurement-based statistical testing of deductions drawn from the hypotheses."
"refinement (or elimination) of the hypotheses based on the experimental findings."
"Although procedures vary from one field of inquiry to another, the underlying process is frequently the same from one field to another."
"The process in the scientific method involves making conjectures (hypothetical explanations), deriving predictions from the hypotheses as logical consequences, and then carrying out experiments or empirical observations based on those predictions."
"A scientific hypothesis must be falsifiable, implying that it is possible to identify a possible outcome of an experiment or observation that conflicts with predictions deduced from the hypothesis; otherwise, the hypothesis cannot be meaningfully tested."
"The purpose of an experiment is to determine whether observations agree with or conflict with the expectations deduced from a hypothesis."
"Experiments can take place anywhere from a garage to a remote mountaintop to CERN's Large Hadron Collider."
"Though the scientific method is often presented as a fixed sequence of steps, it represents rather a set of general principles."
"Not all steps take place in every scientific inquiry (nor to the same degree)."
"They are not always in the same order."
"A hypothesis is a conjecture, based on knowledge obtained while seeking answers to the question."
"Scientists then test hypotheses by conducting experiments or studies."
"applying rigorous skepticism about what is observed, given that cognitive assumptions can distort how one interprets the observation."
"given that cognitive assumptions can distort how one interprets the observation."
"given that cognitive assumptions can distort how one interprets the observation."
"the testability of hypotheses, experimental and the measurement-based statistical testing of deductions drawn from the hypotheses."
"...the development of science since at least the 17th century... acquiring knowledge."