Many Sciences

Science means “study” or “learning”. So, “scientific method” means “learning method”. The scientific method is for everyone who learns anything.

There are many different types of scientists: doctors, psychologists, counselors, electronic engineers, architects, software programmers, chemists, biologists, astrophysicists, astronomers, mathematicians, economists, craftsmen, mechanics, chefs, teachers, managers, entrepreneurs, investors, coaches, athletes, authors, speakers, actors, directors, comedians, journalists, artists, musicians…

In fact, everyone is a scientist in some way or another. When you make decisions in your life, your decisions will be better if you follow the scientific method.

Science Ethics

The questions and unproven theory come earlier in the process. Conclusions and reporting come later in the process.

The scientific method teaches us to keep an open mind. This runs contrary to our human tendency to jump to conclusions.

Bad science will form a theory first, then selectively choose the information that agrees with that idea. Some might even fabricate data or interfere with experiments in order to support the pre-determined conclusion. This is dishonest.

Science is a journey of ongoing discovery. Science is never finished and cannot possibly know everything we can learn. Once we think we think we know everything, we are no longer on the road of science, but on the road of religion. Only religion teaches absolute certainty of things not proven.

Scientific discovery is never complete, only partial. Scientists never agree fully. Some scientists will always disagree with each other. This encourages more research between experts. Reported discussion also invites more people to become involved in science so they can discover more for themselves.

“Agreement” and “unanimous” are terms for law and voters to create a new rule because of their decision. Science is not decided by vote, but discovering about what already exists regardless of our opinion. Voting is not part of science, but law. Someone who uses law terms when discussing science doesn’t really understand science or the scientific method.

The two arch enemies of good science are religion and law. Both of these could be threatened by new discovery. Religions often claim truth that God never teaches. Laws might be proven harmful if we discover something new. A good scientist will always work to avoid reaching conclusions too early. So, good science must always protect itself religion and law attempting to interfere.

But, the biggest enemy of science is our own tendency to assume. Assumptions come from our own bias. The problem with assumptions and biases is that we don’t know we have them.

Even when we reach a conclusion, unless we saw it for ourselves, our science remains only a theory. The age of the earth, the origin of humanity, the substance of an atom, the force of gravity, and what happens at light speed—these are never certainties, but only theories. So, we must always discuss these things as theories, never certainties.

The Steps

1. State the question

Know clearly what you are curious about. Use specific words. Explain the scope of what to learn about and what to explain. Make sure that it is understandable to people who do not have prior knowledge about your ideas. You must explain well enough to know whether your experiment answered your question or not.

2. Research existing information

Study what we already know about the question. What do we know? What don’t we know? What has been tried? What hasn’t anyone tried? Why do we know what we know? Why hasn’t anyone tried what hasn’t been tried? This will inform your hypothesis.

3. Form a hypothesis

Develop a best explanation for what we know so far. This explanation must account for what we don’t know and why we don’t know it. There cannot be any contradictions with known facts, otherwise it can’t be true. Identify what remains only unproven theory or unknown altogether. Your experiments will help to prove what is unproven or unknown.

4. Perform an experiment

The experiment must confirm what parts of your hypothesis remains either unknown or unproven. It will include both a control and an experiment. The control establishes what we already know, to prove that what we expect as normal is still normal and happens as expected. The experiment will change something so that something different will happen. You must know what what your experiment does differently and what you might expect to be different, even if many things could be different. Both the control and the experiment must produce as much information as possible, especially numbers and colors or things like hardness, smell, and size.

5. Analyze data

Scientific information gathered from a study of any kind is called telemetry. Some scientific studies merely gather telemetry without any experimentation. This can be useful in Step 2 of the scientific method. But, Step 5 specifically reviews telemetry from Step 4. Look at all the telemetry. Consider relationships between different pieces of information. Look for different information to have: a direct relationship, an indirect relationship, or no relationship at all.

6. Form a conclusion, repeat if needed

Re-form a new hypothesis. This will be compared to Step 3. This time, you will consider both the research gathered from Step 2 and the new telemetry in Steps 4 and 5. Create an explanation that tells us why things happen as they do and does not contradict anything we know for certain. Know what you still don’t know or what you can only theorize about. If too much remains unknown, then return to Step 4 and perform another experiment to get more telemetry so that fewer things remain unknown or uncertain.

7. Report findings

Describe all seven steps, including the parts of the experiments and their purpose. Explain your conclusion, including what you know and what you don’t know. This should help others know how to apply your findings to other things. This can be written or published in many different ways. Many scientific studies are submitted to research journals, which are reviewed by other experts. Many experts must read journals as part of their job. News agencies will also read journals to find if there is anything interesting to the public. By sharing what you know with others, they can learn, develop scientific questions of their own, and more people may become curious about your topic. When someone makes a new discovery, it can help everyone live better. So, people will want to know what you discovered.