List of scientific method topics

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Scientific method is a body of techniques for investigating phenomena and acquiring new knowledge, as well as for correcting and integrating previous knowledge. It is based on observable, empirical, measurable evidence, and subject to laws of reasoning, both deductive and inductive. Topics on scientific method include:

Contents

[edit] Nature of scientific method

Scientific method
Background
Platonic idealism
Logical argument
Bayesian inference
Scientific community
D
E
In the Middle Ages
In the Renaissance
Scientific Revolution
Characterization
Natural sciences
F
Hypothesis
H
Prediction
K
Experiment
I
L
Timelines
Discoveries
Experiments
Main article: Scientific method

[edit] Elements of scientific method

Main article: Research

[edit] Observation

Main article: Observation

[edit] Hypothesis

Main article: Hypothesis

Use Occam's razor to prune the list of hypothetical explanations of the observation.

[edit] Prediction

Main article: Prediction

A prediction is a logical inference from the hypothesis — Bayesian inference is subjective use of statistical reasoning — Deductive reasoningRetrodiction

[edit] Experiment

Main article: Experiment

Feynman: "We can do anything we want (in theorizing). Then all we have to do is check with the experiment."

[edit] Evaluation

Test of the inference: prediction and experimentation to establish new facts. Critical examination of the hypothetical explanation:

[edit] History of scientific method

History of science
Background
Theories/sociology
Historiography
Pseudoscience
By era
In early cultures
in Classical Antiquity
In the Middle Ages
In the Renaissance
Scientific Revolution
By topic
Natural sciences
Astronomy
Biology
Chemistry
Ecology
Geography
Geology
Paleontology
Physics
Social sciences
Economics
Linguistics
Political science
Psychology
Sociology
Technology
Agricultural science
Computer science
Materials science
Medicine
Navigational pages
Timelines
Portal
Categories
Main articles: History of scientific method, Timeline of the history of scientific method, and History of science

[edit] Publications

[edit] What made the scientific method succeed?

  • Political factors
  • Economic factors
  • Other factors

[edit] Why didn't the scientific method arise elsewhere?

[edit] Scientific method concepts

[edit] Empirical methods

Main article: Empirical methods

[edit] Paradigm change

[edit] Problem of induction

The problem of induction questions the logical basis of scientific statements.

[edit] Scientific creativity

[edit] When method goes wrong

[edit] Critique of scientific method

[edit] Use of statistics

[edit] Relationship of scientific method to technology

Technology is subordinate to Science; Scientific discovery rests on technology.

Science and technology studies

[edit] Departures from method

Michael Polanyi elegant beautiful Occam's razor.

Geocentric model Nicolaus Copernicus Tycho Brahe Kepler Isaac Newton Galileo

[edit] Scientific method scholars

German astronomer who discovered three major laws of planetary motion, conventionally designated as follows: (1) the planets move in elliptical orbits with the Sun at one focus; (2) the time necessary to traverse any arc of a planetary orbit is proportional to the area of the sector between the central body and that arc (the “area law”); and (3) there is an exact relationship between the squares of the planets' periodic times and the cubes of the radii of their orbits (the “harmonic law”). Kepler himself did not call these discoveries “laws,” as would become customary after Isaac Newton derived them from a new and quite different set of general physical principles. He regarded them as celestial harmonies that reflected God's design for the universe. Kepler's discoveries turned Nicolaus Copernicus's Sun-centred system into a dynamic universe, with the Sun actively pushing the planets around in noncircular orbits. And it was Kepler's notion of a physical astronomy that fixed a new problematic for other important 17th-century world-system builders, the most famous of whom was Newton.

[edit] See also

Epistemology

physical law -- Science policy -- Scientific Revolution -- Sociology of knowledge -- Science studies -- Conflicting theories