Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
Scientific Method
Scenario 1: You come home after a long day at work and you flip on the light switch and nothing happens; light does not come on. Now what?
Miriam Webster's dictionary defines the scientific method as all of the "principles and procedures for the systematic pursuit of knowledge involving the recognition and formulation of a problem, the collection of data through observation and experiment, and the formulation and testing of hypotheses."
Ask a Question
Asking questions is an extremely important part of the scientific method and of scientific experimenting. It is actually perhaps the most important part of scientific research because everything else that is done is based on the question that is asked at the beginning of an investigation. All of the other components of the project will be to answer the question posed. Scientists have stated that "almost all scientific inquiry begins with an observation that piques curiosity or raises a question" (Harris 2012). Without a question, there is nothing for the scientist to investigate and therefore there is no experiment to conduct. Before the scientist can get to their work, they must formulate a question. The question is also what is known as the purpose of the experiment because it asks you to find the purpose of your scientific investigation.
Why are the lights not turning on in this house?
Step 2: Do Background Research
It is important to be as informed as possible on any subject before beginning a scientific experiment. For example, if a person did not know about...
From here, the person should see if any other devise in the house is coming on, such as those which usually have a light source, like the clock on the microwave. After this is checked, the person has determined that power is not going to any sources in the house that they can see.
Step 3: Construct a Hypothesis:
A hypothesis is an educated guess as to what explains something or answers a given question. It is called an educated guess, because it is almost always based on knowledge that a person has gained about a given topic. For a theory to become a hypothesis it must be testable, that means something which can be tested with scientific inquiry. Also, the guess must be something which can be proven to be untrue. A hypothesis can either be proven to be true or false. If there is no chance of its being proven wrong then it is not a true hypothesis. Dr. Anne Marie Helmenstine (2012) says, "It's easiest to test the null or no-difference hypothesis because you can prove it to be wrong. It's practically impossible to prove a hypothesis is correct."
My hypothesis is that the power has gone out because of the weather.
Step 4: Test Your Hypothesis by Doing an Experiment:
An experiment is the way to test whether or not the hypothesis is true or false. Experiments must be designed to test only the question on which the…
Works Cited:
Harris, W. (2012). How the scientific method works. Retrieved from http://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/scientific-experiments/scientific-method.htm
Helmenstine, A. (2012). Scientific method steps: learn the steps of the scientific method.
Merriam-Webster, W. (2011). Merriam-webster. Retrieved from http://www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/scientific method
Scientific Method and Climate Change One of the predominant changes occurring in the late 20th and early 21st centuries has been the manner in which economic, political and cultural movements have evolved to bring the world closer. This paradigm, globalism, tells us that a number of actions in modern life are connected, regardless of the political unit or geographic location of a country. Globalism shows us, however, that there have been
Scientific method is a procedure that was developed over centuries to organize the steps in the procedures of scientific investigations. These steps were designed so that the results gathered by scientists would be considered to be verifiable and repeatable, and therefore correct. By using the scientific method, scientists use observations and hypothesis, in order to predict the outcome of an experiment, then conduct that experiment and draw conclusions from the
Scientific Method The objective of this study is to examine the 'scientific method' of research. Towards this end, this study will examine the literature in this area of inquiry. The scientific method of research involves specific steps including those of: (1) defining the question of research; (2) location of resources and gathering of information; (3) formulation of a hypothesis or hypotheses; (4) planning of research collection methods; (5) collection of data; (6)
Scientific method is a systematic method of testing hypotheses in research. The four steps are as follows: Step 1: "Observation and description of a phenomenon or group of phenomena" (Introduction to the scientific method, 2012, University of Rochester). The scientific method begins with existing research, and builds upon the research of other individuals in the field and/or observation of a particular phenomenon. Step 2: " formulation of a hypothesis to
Scientific Methods The law enforcement in the U.S.A. today is better equipped to handle the terrorism attacks and any terrorism threats than it was before the 9/11 incidence in America. This is evident in the general ways through which the security measures are implemented in the country and the intricate manner of investigations that take place to counter terrorism. Due to the nature of the data and information that is needed here,
Lighting periods and cycles should also remain identical for all plants. Results would be measured in weekly or bi-weekly intervals (depending on the growth rate of the plant used) by a leaf count according to hemispheric position -- that is, the plant would be "divided" into two halves, the one facing the light source and the one facing away, and the leaves per half would be counted -- as