The Scientific Method: A Definition - Case Study Example

Discuss the process of science and provide a novel example of the scientific method including observation, hypotheses formation, and experimentation.Also, explain how the scientific method is an empirical and self-correcting process. Please use specific examples/facts in your response. The scientific method a way of evaluating the correctness of claims about the world. The purpose of this particular way is that it is supposed to be fairly independent of specific individual investigators and their biases.

The scientific method has six general steps: 1. Observe some things about the world 2. Invent a hypothesis that might explain them 3. Use the hypothesis to predict some other things about the world these predictions are sometimes called "test implications" as in "If hypothesis X is true, then Y should be the case" this kind of reasoning ("If hypothesis X is true, then Y should be the case") is the very heart of the scientific method 4. Check to see if the test implications are true 5. If the test implications are true, consider the hypothesis to be supported; if they are not met, consider the hypothesis to be disproved 6.

Go back to step 1 for another round - probably including your tests among the observations that suggest how to improve the hypothesis notice that a hypothesis has to be testable (or "falsifiable"), or you cannot proceed with the scientific method. That is, there must be some way to show that it is false a statement like "Bush was elected because God willed it so" is not testable it might be either true or false, but there is no way to check you can't come up with a test implication for it.

Such a statement cannot serve as a scientific hypothesis that does not mean it is incorrect, only that it cannot be evaluated by scientific means. The simplest application of the scientific method is in the "hard" sciences, like physics or biochemistry where the test implications can be checked by doing experiments in which you set up a situation, control the relevant variables, and observe what happens. Usually you repeat this many times to see that the result is consistent and you repeat the experiment with changed variables to see that they have the predicted effect on the outcome.

But in many fields, you cannot perform experiments in some cases, because you cannot manipulate the variables. Example hypothesis: when unemployment rises, the Dow Jones stock index also rises how could you perform an experiment to test this In many cases, because the process of interest is historical, that is, it only happened once and cannot be repeated example hypothesis: a chimp-like creatures evolved into a bipedal ones how could you perform an experiment to test this in these cases, you have to come up with test implications that "predict" something about information that is already there