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THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD1

Observation. All science begins with observation. This at once delimits the scientific domain;
something that cannot be observed cannot be investigated by science. It is necessary that an
observation must be repeatable, actually or potentially. One-time events on earth are outside
science. It must be measurable to ensure objectivity. Correct observation is a most difficult art,
acquired only after long experience and many errors. This difficulty of observation lies largely
on unsuspected personal biases. People tend to see what they want to see.
Identification of a problem. One asks a question about the observation. How does so and so
came about? What is it that makes such and such happen in this or that fashion? Question
asking distinguishes the scientist from the layman; everybody makes observation but not
everybody shows further curiosity. More significantly, not everyone sees that there may
actually be a problem connected with an observation. Thus, scientists take nothing for granted
and they asked questions even at the risk of irritating others. In general, science does best
with How or What questions. Why questions are more troublesome. Some of them can be
rephrase to how or what to attain objectivity. Question like why the universe exists? falls to
untestable category.
Postulating a Hypothesis . This involves the seemingly unscientific procedure of guessing.
One guesses the answer to the question might conceivably be. Of course a given question
may have thousands of possible answers but only one right answer. The chances are therefore
excellent that a random guess will be wrong.
Experimentation. It is the function of every experiment to test the validity of every guess. If
experimentation shows that the first guess was wrong, the scientist must formulate a new
hypothesis and once more test the validity by performing new experiment. Clearly, the guess
and guess testing might go on for years and a right answer might never be found. In this
connection, hunches, intuition, and lucky accidents aid science enormously.
Interpretation and Analysis of Data. When a hypothesis has been supported by really
convincing evidence, best obtained in many different laboratories and by many independent
researchers, and when the total accumulated evidence is unquestionably reliable within
carefully specified limits, then a Theory may be proposed. A theory is a set of logically related
concepts which can be used to measure, explain and predict events, and transform nature.
Thus, every good theory has explanatory and predictive power. It prophesies certain results. In
contrast to nonscientific prophesies, scientific ones always have a substantial body of evidence
to back them up. A few theories have proved to be so universally valid and to have such a high
degree of probability that they are spoken of as Natural Law. However, most theories actually
have rather brief life spans. In this case, old theories do not become incorrect but merely
become obsolete (not in used). Precisely, its because a new theory supersedes and replaces
another theory on the basis of its greater explanatory and predictive power compared to the
old ones.

Condensed by Roland L. Aparece, MA from Paul Weisz and Melvin Fuller, The Science of Botany in Agerico M. De
Villa, Social-Political Philosophy. (Quezon City: Katha Publishing Company, 1992) pp. 9-13; and from the class notes in
Modern Philosophy by Dr. Ramon Reyes, MA in Teaching Philosophy, summer 2006, Ateneo De Manila University, Quezon
City.

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