Scientific Method
It's very scientific, scientific method.
Question, research, hypothesis, experiment, analyze, report. Awesome!
The history of the scientific method is a long and winding road that goes back almost 2000 years.
Dozens upon dozens of scientists have played a part in refining the method to what it is today,
including some serious scientific heavy-hitters, like...oh, I don't know...Aristotle! Newton! Galileo!
And also Roger Bacon and Descartes. Mmmm...Bacon. Some ancient Muslim thinkers also played
no small part in the method's development. But I know what you're thinking:
What is the scientific method, and how does it affect me?!??
It's very scientific, scientific method.
Question, research, hypothesis, experiment, analyze, report. Awesome!
So, as a definition, scientific method - it's a set of steps that scientists use when they're trying to further scientific knowledge.
Anybody can do an experiment, but if you don't follow the scientific method,
your results will most likely be meaningless to the rest of the world.
Step 1 - Question. Ask a question about something you're interested in.
Step 2 - Research. Read as much as you can about that subject.
Step 3 - Hypothesis. What do you think you can prove?
Step 4 - Experiment.
Step 5 - Analyze your results, and
Step 6 - Report your data to the world.
It's very scientific, scientific method.
Question, research, hypothesis, experiment, analyze, report. Awesome!
The scientific method, in a nutshell, is basically just a way to keep your scientific work very neat and clean, and have your results be something that other people can easily go back and duplicate.
Also, a lot of times, you'll want to do many experiments that are very similar, where only one or two attributes change from one experiment to the next: scientific method will help you do this.
I want to leave you with a quote. "It has often been said that the greatest discovery in science was the discovery of the scientific method." Where would we be without it?!
It's very scientific, scientific method.
Question, research, hypothesis, experiment, analyze, report. Awesome!