Scientific Method

The steps that scientists use to answer questions and solve problems. This procedure is quite fundamental in Science, but is also quite easy to follow. There are a lot of debates going on about how many steps they are in the scientific method (such as this one and several more). This page, in the author's POV, will state the 6 steps of the Scientific Method, and additional tidbits.

## Six Steps of the Scientific Method

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### Ask a Question

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* Ask A Question: Research and ask a question. Question words such as what, why, how, and when are crucial to form a pathway, which will lead to making something called a hypothesis.

They are some debates as to whether research comes before/after asking a question

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### Create a Hypothesis

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* Create a Hypothesis: We will define what a hypothesis is, but first, we should describe/recap on how we got to a hypothesis.

Remember! Researching --> Ask Question. Turn the question into a hypothesis. What is a hypothesis? Let's consult our dictionary with the definition of hypothesis:

> a mere assumption or guess.

And now... with a scientific definition from sciencebuddies.org, we get:

> A hypothesis is a tentative, testable answer to a scientific question. Once a scientist has a scientific question she is interested in, the scientist reads up to find out what is already known on the topic. Then she uses that information to form a tentative answer to her scientific question. Sometimes people refer to the tentative answer as "an educated guess."

Alright, seems simple, eh? Basically... a hypothesis is an educated guess, which is a scientific assumption (which will be tested) to a question. Usually, hypothesis's are characterized as "If, then" statements.

Such as: "If the plant is put into the closet, while the rest of the plants are outside, then the plant in the closet is not going to grow as well as the other plants".

But.. a hypothesis can be as simple as "How does acid rain affect plant growth?".

### Test the Hypothesis

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* Test the Hypothesis: A win or a break for the hypothesis, it's time to go onto the climax of the scientific method, the expirement, which is scientifically defined as:

> Research method for testing different assumptions (hypotheses) by trial and error under conditions constructed and controlled by the researcher.

### Analyze the Results

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* Analyze the Results: Now, you've experimented your hypothesis, analyze your data. You might use words like independent variable, dependent variable, control, constants, etc. while reviewing your data. Tables/graphs are usually used to organize your data.

### Draw the Conclusion

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* Draw the Conclusion: Concluding whether your hypothesis was right or not. If your hypothesis is a "yes!", then repeat it to verify it. If your hypothesis is a "no!", check your procedures for errors... you might even make a new hypothesis! If you can't get a yes/no, then try again your investigation/carry out further observations or experiments.

### Communicate Results

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* Communicate Results: Report your results, but after you have verified that your hypothesis was and is correct.

## See Also

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* Thinking Scientifically