5/21/2017 TheScientificMethod:Steps,Terms&ExamplesVideo&LessonTranscript|Study.

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KeyElementsoftheScientificMethod
Therearesixkeystepsthattendtocharacterizethescientificmethod.Thefirststepis
thequestion.Thisisthepartwhereascientistproposestheproblemthatheorshewantsto
solve.Awellconceivedquestionusuallyleadstoahypothesis,apotentialanswertothequestion
athand.Sometimes,hypotheseslookmorelikepredictions.Thescientistpredictswhatthe
outcomewillbewhenheorsheteststhehypothesis.Thescientist'stestisalsocalled
theexperiment.Experimentsareorderedinvestigationsthatareintendedtoproveordisprovea
hypothesis.Importantdatacomesfromperforminganexperiment.

Thescientisthastomakeobservationsoftheresultsthatheorshegetsfromtheexperiment.An
observationisastatementofknowledgegainedthroughthesensesorthroughtheuseofscientific
equipment.Observationsarecrucialforcollectingdata.Oncetheresultsarein,thescientistmust
begintheanalysis.Dataanalysisinvolvescomparingtheresultsoftheexperimenttothe
predictionposedbythehypothesis.Basedontheobservationsheorshemade,thescientisthas
todeterminewhetherthehypothesiswascorrect.Heorshethensumsuphisorherfindingswith
aconclusion.Theconclusionofascientificprocessisastatementofwhethertheoriginal
hypothesiswassupportedorrefutedbytheobservationsgathered.

Thesixstepsofthescientificmethoddonotalwaysoccurinthesameorder.

ThescientificmethodusuallyemploysallsixofthestepsImentioned,butthestepsdon'talways
occurinthesameorder.Realscientistsmaygobackandrepeatstepsmanytimesbeforethey
cometoanyconclusions.It'sactuallybettertousetheword'elements'todescribethesteps,since
thefirststep,question,doesnotalwayscomefirst.Sometimes,forexample,it'sanobservation
thatcamefirstandspawnedtheinitialquestion.Likewise,observationsthataremadeduringan
experimentcaninspiremorequestionsthatscientistshavetoanswer.Thescientificmethodis
muchmorefluidthanyoumightthink.Letmeshowyouhowthestepscanfeedbackandbranch
outfromoneanotherwithanexamplefrommyownexperience.

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