Scientific Approach
Orientation or inclination towards applying scientific methodology in the study of phenomena to attain understanding.
What follows is a much abbreviated, simplified sketch of scientific inquiry:
Defining the problem
A problem must be clearly defined, and defined in such a way that it is amenable to careful, systematic investigation.
Relatability
The problem must be stated such that it is meaningfully related to an existing hypothesis, theory, or specific facts from the background information - scientific acquisition of knowledge hinges on interpreting new data in light of theory and merging fresh ‘facts’ harmoniously with the established base of knowledge, facts do not stand in isolation, they are always in a relationship with other facts, and the framework within which these are described and explained.
Testability and Interpretability
The hypothesis must be testable, expressed unambiguously and so that it fits coherently with a body of accepted principles to render the outcome of the investigation interpretable, it must be the case that the claims inherent in the problem defined are subject to falsification.
Procedural competence and integrity
Relevant procedures must be determined which enable (and do not prevent) the practical implementation of steps 1-3, for example, that experiments not be conducted in a manner such that the results are hopelessly confounded by inappropriate subject selection or comparisons or compromised by experimenter bias.
Competition among hypotheses
Data is gathered and analyzed which will either support one or some hypotheses, while conflicting with and excluding rivals, a process of ‘ruling out’, the worth of any given hypothesis being related inversely to how numerous are its acceptable alternatives.
Peer review, Replicability, and Prediction
Prediction has the role of specifying outcomes which would be true if the hypothesis is true, thus providing a prospective test of the hypothesis, the extent to which this will produce a good test of the hypothesis depends upon the degree to which the prediction is a risky prediction, giving an opportunity to clearly see whether implications of the hypothesis are verified or disproven. The results of the investigation are subjected to frank and rigourous peer review involving critiques of the work, with these critiques in turn scrutinized together with further independent research conducted to replicate the original results until a consensus coalesces around a particular view in the field.
Accomodation
An accomodation is made in the body of scientific knowledge according with the scientific consensus on the findings of the investigation.
Scientific understanding comprises of having a satisfactory theory explaining how a phenomenon or phenomena works, articulating the patterns of behaviour of the phenomena, and why they possess the properties they do or appear in the manner observed. The scientific enterprise involves combining, on the one hand, the ready generation of solutions, ideas, conceptualizations, and theories, with, on the other, checking and testing these ideas and solutions to expose flaws and errors and to lead by a sifting and continuing revising process to what works, and which results in successively closer approximations of reality.
(see also: science, scientific methodology, pseudo-science, systematic evidence, Studies – Scientific or Empirical, evolution, anecdotal evidence, personal experience, testimonial, (conceptual) models, operational definition, critical thinking, theory (scientific), falsifiability, testability, diagnosticity, convergence, null hypothesis, the residue problem, A Priori) .
