overview of the scientific method


	overview of the scientific method

Lexica

6-16-2008 6:13 PM

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tags:

science

Lexica says:

Science is about observable evidence and testable hypotheses, not about opinions, wishes, or beliefs.

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6-16-2008 10:10 PM

masbury

Thus, you can see how ridiculous is the question, "Can you scientifically prove the existence of God?" The weakness is not that the existence of God is unconvincing, but that the scientific method is an inappropriate test for the question (as it is for many), for this reason:

for the scientific method to answer the question it must be about something that you can measure, preferably with a number.

We can't use the scientific method to prove our birth dates, or the reality of last summer's vacation, or the existence of a friendship - for none of these are quantifiable, controllable, or repeatable. Yet we gladly and confidently build our lives upon them.

6-16-2008 10:39 PM

willhelm

Excellent comment Masbury.
You make a gem every 500 or so.

Here is a good comparison of the actual scientific method and the one we are asked to observe today.

6-17-2008 2:27 PM

Lexica

Willhelm, do you have any sources or support for that claim other than a single diagram that somebody drew up?

A single diagram, by the way, which comes from a comic strip about the vagaries of life as a grad student. In other words, it's intended as humor. If it were done as a lolcat on ICanHasCheezburger.com, it would be captioned "research - UR DOIN IT WRONG."

Anybody can draw a diagram of anything and claim it represents reality. It's the backing it up with evidence part that's the scientific method.

Do you have any personal experience with science, or research, or academia? Or are you basing your opinions on second- and third-hand reports from other people? The things y...

6-17-2008 10:17 PM

willhelm

Willhelm, do you have any sources or support for that claim other than a single diagram that somebody drew up?

It was a joke, lexica. geez!
It just happens that truth is at the heart of much comedy and threre is some truth to joke. Lighten up for goodness sake.

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://www.clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/bd0ff847-8e8e-4442-9ab1-c25a724dc5b2/89A4089E-1E01-4C1F-8154-5ACB88FDAD8E/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.sciencebuddies.org/mentoring/project_scientific_method.shtml" href="http://www.sciencebuddies.org/mentoring/project_scientific_method.shtml" style="font-size: 11px;">www.sciencebuddies.org</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.sciencebuddies.org/mentoring/project_scientific_method.shtml"><H2>Overview of the Scientific Method</H2></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.sciencebuddies.org/mentoring/project_scientific_method.shtml"><P><BR />The scientific method is a process for experimentation that is used to explore observations and answer questions. Scientists use the scientific method to search for <B>cause and effect</B> relationships in nature. In other words, they design an experiment so that changes to one item cause something else to vary in a predictable way. </P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.sciencebuddies.org/mentoring/project_scientific_method.shtml"><div align="center"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.sciencebuddies.org/img/42D62E2F-1AA1-46E7-9C20-18B2C05A3241" alt="Overview of the Scientific Method" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.sciencebuddies.org/mentoring/project_scientific_method.shtml">in order for the scientific method to answer the question it must be about something that you can measure, preferably with a number.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.sciencebuddies.org/mentoring/project_scientific_method.shtml">
You must state your hypothesis in a way that you can easily measure</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.sciencebuddies.org/mentoring/project_scientific_method.shtml">
Scientists often find that their hypothesis was false, and in such cases they will construct a new hypothesis starting the entire process of the scientific method over again.  Even if they find that their hypothesis was true, they may want to test it again in a new way.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.sciencebuddies.org/mentoring/project_scientific_method.shtml">Professional scientists do almost exactly the same thing by publishing their final report in a scientific journal or</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.sciencebuddies.org/mentoring/project_scientific_method.shtml">their results on a poster at a scientific meeting</blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/89A4089E-1E01-4C1F-8154-5ACB88FDAD8E/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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