Scientific method

Timeline

• 2013The scientific method no longer features in the standards for US education of 2013 (NGSS) that replaced those of 1996 (NRC).

Read

• The principles of scienceWilliam Stanley Jevons · 1874Book
• An introduction to logic and scientific methodMorris Raphael Cohen · 1934Book
• Critical thinkingMax Black · 1946Book
• Reason and nature, an essay on the meaning of scientific methodsMorris Raphael Cohen · 1931Book

Watch

• Feynman on Scientific Method.seabalaVideo
• The Scientific Method: Steps, Examples, Tips, and ExerciseSproutsVideo
• The Scientific Method: Steps, Terms and ExamplesStudy.comVideo

Listen

• Scientific MethodSarah BatesPodcast
• The Scientific MethodBarbara Hayes - Biology TeacherPodcast
• The (Un)Scientific MethodThe (Un)Scientific MethodPodcast
• The Not So Scientific MethodJamie and NoreenPodcast

Voices to follow

• Oscar Fontanelli Espinosa@fonatelli · XPh.D. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México 2017

Debates

• Is the scientific method truly objective?One view: Yes, its structured steps and reliance on empirical evidence aim to minimize personal bias. · Another: No, human interpretation, choice of questions, and funding influences can introduce subjectivity.Open question
• Should scientific research always prioritize falsifiability?One view: Yes, a theory must be testable and potentially proven false to be considered truly scientific. · Another: No, some valid scientific concepts, especially in theoretical physics, are difficult to directly falsify.Open question

Glossary

• HypothesisA testable explanation for an observation, often an 'if-then' statement.
• ExperimentA controlled procedure designed to test a hypothesis.
• VariableAny factor that can change or be changed in an experiment.
• ObservationThe act of noticing and recording something, often using senses or tools.
• TheoryA well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world, supported by evidence.
• DataFacts and statistics collected for analysis and reference.

Careers

Roles this can lead toward

Student research

Published policy papers by One Young India delegates — every delegate leaves published under their own name.

• The Philadelphia Experiment: Deconstruction of a Military Myth and PseudoscienceDwij Verma
• Evolution Of Payment Methods in IndiaNavya Palriwal

Threads 9

Where this connects to other fields — and why it's worth knowing.

• Orthodoxy and Heresy Religion

  We imagine scientists cheerfully changing their minds when new evidence arrives. In reality the old guard often clings to their theory and treats challengers like a church treats heretics. Thinker Thomas Kuhn joked that science really advances one funeral at a time, as stubborn believers die off and fresh ones take over.

• Entrepreneurship and New Ventures Business

  A scientist has a hunch, builds a test, checks the result, and changes their mind if they're wrong. A startup does the identical thing: the rough first product is the experiment, the sales numbers are the test, and 'pivoting' just means the results proved the founder's guess wrong. Building a company is doing science on your own idea.

• Digital Health & Telemedicine Health

  Super-sensitive scans can spot tiny tumors so harmless you'd have died of old age never knowing they were there, yet once you know, you get surgery, worry, and side effects. So scanning everyone for everything can actually invent sick people and hurt them. Catching something 'early' isn't automatically better, sometimes the smartest move is not to look.

• Algorithms & Computation Mathematics

  Occam's razor says the simplest explanation is usually best. Computer science makes that exact: the best theory is the shortest computer program that can spit out your data. So understanding something is really just compressing it, and 'overfitting,' a theory bloated with extra bits, is the sign you memorized instead of truly explaining.

• News, Journalism & Verification Media

  Science journals love to publish surprising, exciting results and ignore the boring 'nothing happened' ones. So the official scientific record ends up stuffed with flukes that look more dramatic than reality. It's the same bias that makes the news misleading: if only the shocking stuff gets printed, your picture of the world gets warped, in the lab and on the front page alike.

• Procedure & Evidence Law

  Both scientists and courtrooms face the same problem: witnesses lie, data misleads, evidence is shaky. But they solve it in opposite ways. Science makes everyone slowly agree through repeated testing; law throws two sides into combat and lets a jury pick the winner. Weirdly, the courtroom now borrows science's rulebook to decide which expert testimony even counts.

• Religion and Science Religion

  The scientific method partly grew out of religion. Early scientists saw running experiments as 'reading God's second book' (nature), and believed the universe had lawful, discoverable order because a lawgiver made it. The hunt for the laws of physics was faith-driven before it was secular.

• Disinformation and Elections Politics

  Casting doubt on election results and casting doubt on scientists use the exact same trick: flood people with fake uncertainty. And both fight back the same way, by having others check and repeat the work until the truth holds up.

• English as a Global Language Literature

  Almost all science is now published in English. So a brilliant discovery written in Spanish or Mandarin can go unread and unnoticed. The world's shared language quietly decides whose evidence counts, and stacks the deck against non-native speakers.