Essay On The Scientific Method

842 Words2 Pages

Introduction
For many years, conclusions were drawn in the science world based on people’s beliefs and common knowledge without the use of a scientific method to test and verify these assumptions (The scientific method, n.d).
In order to answer questions, reach conclusions and to prove theories, especially in the physical world, some scientists started to observe how things happen in the world and follow steps to explain their findings (Scientific method, 2008)). This way of investigating phenomena by following a sequence of steps that helps scientists to answer questions and prove an assumption is called the scientific method. The scientific method used by scientists varies and is not always the same, but they all follow a certain common steps when investigating something. According to The Scientific method (n.d) these steps consist of making and observation, raising a question formulating a hypothesis, making predictions, conducting experiments or tests and drawing a conclusion (theory).
Observation
Observation is an important step of the scientific method because it is when everything starts. In this step the scientist observe a fact or anything that happen in the world with his eyes or using a tool, such as a microscope (The scientific method, n.d).
Question
After making observations, it is important to raise a question regarding the phenomena being observed. A question has to be specific such as “How many foreign physical therapists work in the U.S?” because it leads to a single answer. If a question can generate multiple answers, a scientist would not be able to draw a conclusion because different variable would influence the results (The scientific method, n.d).

Hypothesis
With a question being determined a hypothesi...

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...operly organized in one place and facilitate the findings of relevant differences in data and or similarities, and in a graph in which complex information can be organized and represented in a way that is easy to explain and understand (Slutz and Hess, n.d). In a presentation, graph would be the ideal way to display data because it would draw people’s attention, stimulate their thinking and facilitate their understanding. A table would be a good pick when collecting data while performing an experiment. By placing the information in the right columns and rows, one could easily verify differences and similarities.

Conclusion
The scientific method consists of making observations, asking a question, formulating a hypothesis, making predictions, testing and drawing a conclusion, and can help scientists to prove an assumption that does not have a scientific explanation.

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