Lesson 2 Scientific Method

HOW DO WE KNOW THAT SOMETHING IS TRUE?
The word science comes from the latin root

scientia, meaning knowledge. But where does the
knowledge that makes up science come from? How do you
ever really know that something is true?
• For instance, modern science tell us that some types of disease spread
through tiny organisms. Medieval people believed instead that sickness arose
from an imbalance of the body’s four humors. How do we know with
certainty that modern science is correct? Microscopes enable us to see the
germs that cause sickness, but when we look through microscopic lenses to
examine microbes, how do we know our understanding of what they are and
what they are doing is true? Of course, medieval philosophers did not have
microscopic lenses—but if they did, they very likely would have disagreed
with our modern understanding of disease. Believing in the inaccuracy of the
human senses, and moreover of the human mind's inability to correctly judge
anything, medieval knowledge instead privileged ancient texts as the best
way of making sense of the world.
Sir Francis Bacon
In 1620, around the time that people first began to look through
microscopes, an English politician named Sir Francis Bacon
developed a method for philosophers to use in weighing the
truthfulness of knowledge. While Bacon agreed with medieval
thinkers that humans too often erred in interpreting what their
five senses perceived, he also realized that people's sensory
experiences provided the best possible means of making sense
of the world. Because humans could incorrectly interpret
anything they saw, heard, smelled, tasted, or felt, Bacon insisted
that they must doubt everything before assuming its truth.
Testing hypotheses
In order to test potential truths, or hypotheses, Bacon devised a method whereby
scientists set up experiments to manipulate nature and attempt to prove their
hypotheses wrong. For example, in order to test the idea that sickness came from
external causes, Bacon argued that scientists should expose healthy people to
outside influences such as coldness, wetness, or other sick people to discover if
any of these external variables resulted in more people getting sick. Knowing
that many different causes for sickness might be missed by humans who are
unable or unwilling to perceive them, Bacon insisted that these experiments must
be consistently repeated before truth could be known: a scientist must show that
patients exposed to a specific variable more frequently got sick again, and again,
and again.
LESSON 2.
SCIENTIFIC METHOD AND
OBSERVATION
•The Scientific Method is a process for gathering data and processing
information. It provides well-defined steps to standardize how scientific
knowledge is gathered through a logical, rational problem-solving
method. This diagram shows the steps of the scientific method, which are
listed below.
•The scientific method was first outlined by Sir Francis Bacon (1561-
1626) to provide logical, rational problem solving across many scientific
fields.
•
• The basic steps of the scientific method are: 1) make an observation that describes
a problem, 2) create a hypothesis, 3) test the hypothesis, and 4) draw conclusions and
refine the hypothesis.
 The major precepts of the scientific method employed by all scientific disciplines are
verifiability, predictability, falsifiability, and fairness.
 The application of the scientific theory to psychology took the discipline from a form
of philosophy to a form of science.
 Critical thinking is a key component of the scientific method. Without it, you cannot
use logic to come to conclusions.
•Verifiability means that an experiment must be replicable by another
researcher. To achieve verifiability, researchers must make sure to
document their methods and clearly explain how their experiment is
structured and why it produces certain results.
•Predictability in a scientific theory implies that the theory should
enable us to make predictions about future events. The precision of these
predictions is a measure of the strength of the theory.
• Falsifiability refers to whether a hypothesis can disproved. For a hypothesis to be
falsifiable, it must be logically possible to make an observation or do a physical
experiment that would show that there is no support for the hypothesis. Even when a
hypothesis cannot be shown to be false, that does not necessarily mean it is not valid.
Future testing may disprove the hypothesis. This does not mean that a hypothesis has to
be shown to be false, just that it can be tested.
• To determine whether a hypothesis is supported or not supported, psychological

researchers must conduct hypothesis testing using statistics. Hypothesis testing is a type
of statistics that determines the probability of a hypothesis being true or false. If
hypothesis testing reveals that results were “statistically significant,” this means that
there was support for the hypothesis and that the researchers can be reasonably confident
that their result was not due to random chance. If the results are not statistically
significant, this means that the researchers’ hypothesis was not supported.
•Fairness implies that all data must be considered when evaluating a
hypothesis. A researcher cannot pick and choose what data to keep and
what to discard or focus specifically on data that support or do not
support a particular hypothesis. All data must be accounted for, even if
they invalidate the hypothesis.

• The Basic Principles of the Scientific Method
Two key concepts in the scientific approach are theory and hypothesis. A
theory is used to make predictions about future observations. A hypothesis is
a testable prediction that is arrived at logically from a theory.
Observation is something we often do instinctively. Observation helps us decide
whether it’s safe to cross the road and helps to determine if cupcakes are ready
to come out of the oven. Observation is more than simply noticing something. It
involves perception (becoming aware of something by means of the senses) and
the recognition of the subject’s importance or significance. Standing on a
roadside, our eyes tell us cars are quickly approaching. Prior knowledge warns
us that stepping in front of a car is dangerous, so we wait until the road is clear.
• Observed Naturally
• When a scientist sets out to prove something using the scientific method, he must
first observe something in the natural world. For instance, Sir Isaac Newton theorized
that there was a force called gravity after he watched an apple fall from a tree. This
would be a natural observation. Newton saw something happen in nature without any
intervention on his part or the part of anyone else. This type of observation means the
scientist will watch and wait for the event to happen during an experiment.
• Staged Observation
• If Isaac Newton had come up with his theory of gravity after dropping an apple from a balcony,
his observation would be characterized as staged. Many experiments begin with a scientist thinking
“what if” -- e.g., “What if I drop this apple from a balcony? What will happen?” In this form of
observation the scientist creates a hypothetical theory from thinking about something in nature,
intervening in nature and observing the event. This type of observation generally dictates that the
experimentation that comes from the observation will have to be recreated.
• Quantitative Observation
• Quantitative observation is an objective collection of data which is primarily focused on numbers and
values – it suggests “associated to, of or depicted in terms of a quantity”. Results of quantitative
observation are derived using statistical and numerical analysis methods. www.questionpro.com
• It is the type of observation that deals in quantifiable variables, things that you can use numbers to
express. Sciencetrends.com
• In the scientific method, after a scientist comes up with a theory based on an observation of something
in nature, she starts an experiment. Once the experiment is underway, it must be observed. The scientist
records the observations of the experiment and collects data. One form of data collection during the method
is quantitative. This form of observation during an experiment employs mathematical models and relies on
the scientist to collect information based on numbers, such as how many apples fell from a tree or balcony.
Quantitative observation is common in physics, biology and the natural sciences.
• Qualitative Observation
•Qualitative observation deals with data that can be observed with our
senses: sight, smell, touch, taste, and hearing. They do not involve
measurements or numbers. For instance, colors, shapes, and textures of
objects are all qualitative observations.
Examples of Qualitative Observations
•Take a look at the photo of this tree:
Use your senses to list some qualitative observations. You can say that the
twigs are angled and a bit twisted. The leaves are green and have pointed
tips. The fruit is orange in color and somewhat oval. All these are qualitative
observations using our sight.

Lesson 2 Scientific Method

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HOW DO WE KNOW THAT SOMETHING IS TRUE?

The word science comes from the latin root

• To determine whether a hypothesis is supported or not supported, psychological

•Take a look at the photo of this tree:

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