Scientific Method

Non-Scientific Methods of Acquiring Knowledge

  • Tenacity

    • From habit or superstition

    • Ex. “Do opposites attract?” or “Birds of a feather flock together?”

      • Problems with Tenacity

        • Reliance on Folk-Wisdom or Folk-Psychology

        • They make exact opposite statements

  • Intuition

    • From a hunch or feeling

    • Ex.

      • Problems with Intuition

        • It can be wrong

  • Authority

    • From an expert

    • Ex. “A leading expert in science makes a statement. ”

      • Problems with Authority

        • Can be wrong

  • Rationalism

    • From reasoning, a logical conclusion

    • Ex. Drawing a conclusion about the probability of an event or condition based on available but incomplete evidence of the past.

      • Problems with Rationalism

        • Confirmation bias

        • Availability Heuristic

  • Empiricism

    • From direct sensory observation

  • Overreliance on Chance Events

    • Chance events are just chance

The Scientific Method

  • Hypothesis about how something works

  • Generate predictions

  • Systematic empirical observations

  • Comparing the observations with the hypothesis

Steps of the Scientific Method

  • Developing a Hypothesis

    • A statement predicting the outcome of a scientific study

    • In terms of operational definitions

    • Must be stated in a way that can be falsified

  • Performing a Controlled Test

    • Independent Variable

      • Manipulated by the investigator

    • Dependent Variable

      • The outcome/recorded element of the experiment

  • Analyzing the Results

    • A set of mathematical techniques used to organize data and draw inferences from it

  • Publishing, Criticizing, and Replicating

    • Publish work in a peer-reviewed journal

    • Others try to replicate or disprove your results

Science

  • makes systematic observations

  • produces public knowledge

  • produces data-based conclusions

  • produces tentative conclusions

  • asks answerable questions

  • develops theories that can be disproven

Assumptions of Science

  • Nature is orderly

  • We can know nature

  • All natural phenomena have natural causes

  • Nothing is self-evident

  • Knowledge is based on experience

  • Knowledge is superior to ignorance

It Might Not Be Good Science if

  • Cased on testimonials

  • Based on chance events

  • Based on a few, highly selected studies

  • Opposing studies are dismissed

  • Phenomena disappears with too many controls

  • People advocative for controls are dismissed

  • Results can’t be verified