You searched for: “scientific method”
scientific method
A set of principles and procedures for systematic study, introduced primarily by Galileo Galilei, and still used in the modern sciences.

The scientific method consists of four essential parts:

  1. The statement of a problem to be studied.
  2. The gathering of scientific data through observation and experimentation.
  3. The formulation of hypotheses or theories.
  4. The testing of those hypotheses.

The results of testing may lead to a restatement of the problem, or an entirely new problem to be analyzed, which starts the process over again.

This entry is located in the following unit: Science and Technology Words from the Ancient Past to the Present, Part 1 (page 6)
Word Entries containing the term: “scientific method”
1. Scientific method, observation and facts
The observation of phenomena and the recording of facts: the phenomena are what occurs in the environment; the facts are descriptions of what is observed.
This entry is located in the following unit: Measurements and Mathematics Terms (page 1)
2. Scientific method, formlation of physical laws and generalizations
The formulation of physical laws from the generalization of the phenomena: physical laws are the way nature usually behaves based on what has been observed in the past.
This entry is located in the following unit: Measurements and Mathematics Terms (page 1)
3. Scientific method, developoment of theory to predict new phenomena
The development of a theory that is used to predict new phenomena where the theory is a general statement that explains the facts.

A theory can lead to a new conclusion or the discovery of a phenomenon. Developments of a theory often result in a change in paradigm; that is, looking at or thinking about a scientific problem in a totally different way as indicated by a set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitute a way of viewing reality for the scientific community that shares them.

—Based on information compiled from "Why Is Measurement Important to Science?"
by Patricia Barnes-Svarney, Editorial Director; The New York Public Library Science Desk Reference;
A Stoneson Press Book, Macmillan Publishers; New York; 1995; page 2.
This entry is located in the following unit: Measurements and Mathematics Terms (page 1)