Why do Scientists do what they do?
lOver the years, I think that the answers seem to fall into two categories:
  • 1.“To find the truth about the world.”
  • 2.“To find something useful.”
lIt is my personal opinion that the structure of science is better suited for the latter but as I discuss the scientific method, you be the judge.
 

 

Figure 1:  A graphical view of the Scientific method.

 

Parts of the scientific method

 

  • lObservation:  There are two types of observations, qualitative (the product is blue) or qualitative (the reaction produced 17.0 grams of product.  Observations are often the catalyst to formulating a problem.  They are also important in our experiments.
  • lHypothesis:  A hypothesis is a possible explanation for an observation.
  • Experiment:  An experiment is something we do to test the hypothesis
  • lTheory:  A theory (or model) is a set of tested hypothesis that gives an overall explanation of some part of nature.
  • lLaw:  A law is a summary of observed behavior.