scientific method research question

What is the Scientific Method: How does it work and why is it important?

The scientific method is a systematic process involving steps like defining questions, forming hypotheses, conducting experiments, and analyzing data. It minimizes biases and enables replicable research, leading to groundbreaking discoveries like Einstein's theory of relativity, penicillin, and the structure of DNA. This ongoing approach promotes reason, evidence, and the pursuit of truth in science.

Updated on November 18, 2023

Beginning in elementary school, we are exposed to the scientific method and taught how to put it into practice. As a tool for learning, it prepares children to think logically and use reasoning when seeking answers to questions.

Rather than jumping to conclusions, the scientific method gives us a recipe for exploring the world through observation and trial and error. We use it regularly, sometimes knowingly in academics or research, and sometimes subconsciously in our daily lives.

In this article we will refresh our memories on the particulars of the scientific method, discussing where it comes from, which elements comprise it, and how it is put into practice. Then, we will consider the importance of the scientific method, who uses it and under what circumstances.

What is the scientific method?

The scientific method is a dynamic process that involves objectively investigating questions through observation and experimentation . Applicable to all scientific disciplines, this systematic approach to answering questions is more accurately described as a flexible set of principles than as a fixed series of steps.

The following representations of the scientific method illustrate how it can be both condensed into broad categories and also expanded to reveal more and more details of the process. These graphics capture the adaptability that makes this concept universally valuable as it is relevant and accessible not only across age groups and educational levels but also within various contexts.

Steps in the scientific method

While the scientific method is versatile in form and function, it encompasses a collection of principles that create a logical progression to the process of problem solving:

• Define a question : Constructing a clear and precise problem statement that identifies the main question or goal of the investigation is the first step. The wording must lend itself to experimentation by posing a question that is both testable and measurable.
• Gather information and resources : Researching the topic in question to find out what is already known and what types of related questions others are asking is the next step in this process. This background information is vital to gaining a full understanding of the subject and in determining the best design for experiments. 
• Form a hypothesis : Composing a concise statement that identifies specific variables and potential results, which can then be tested, is a crucial step that must be completed before any experimentation. An imperfection in the composition of a hypothesis can result in weaknesses to the entire design of an experiment.
• Perform the experiments : Testing the hypothesis by performing replicable experiments and collecting resultant data is another fundamental step of the scientific method. By controlling some elements of an experiment while purposely manipulating others, cause and effect relationships are established.
• Analyze the data : Interpreting the experimental process and results by recognizing trends in the data is a necessary step for comprehending its meaning and supporting the conclusions. Drawing inferences through this systematic process lends substantive evidence for either supporting or rejecting the hypothesis.
• Report the results : Sharing the outcomes of an experiment, through an essay, presentation, graphic, or journal article, is often regarded as a final step in this process. Detailing the project's design, methods, and results not only promotes transparency and replicability but also adds to the body of knowledge for future research.
• Retest the hypothesis : Repeating experiments to see if a hypothesis holds up in all cases is a step that is manifested through varying scenarios. Sometimes a researcher immediately checks their own work or replicates it at a future time, or another researcher will repeat the experiments to further test the hypothesis.

Where did the scientific method come from?

Oftentimes, ancient peoples attempted to answer questions about the unknown by:

• Making simple observations
• Discussing the possibilities with others deemed worthy of a debate
• Drawing conclusions based on dominant opinions and preexisting beliefs

For example, take Greek and Roman mythology. Myths were used to explain everything from the seasons and stars to the sun and death itself.

However, as societies began to grow through advancements in agriculture and language, ancient civilizations like Egypt and Babylonia shifted to a more rational analysis for understanding the natural world. They increasingly employed empirical methods of observation and experimentation that would one day evolve into the scientific method . 

In the 4th century, Aristotle, considered the Father of Science by many, suggested these elements , which closely resemble the contemporary scientific method, as part of his approach for conducting science:

• Study what others have written about the subject.
• Look for the general consensus about the subject.
• Perform a systematic study of everything even partially related to the topic.

By continuing to emphasize systematic observation and controlled experiments, scholars such as Al-Kindi and Ibn al-Haytham helped expand this concept throughout the Islamic Golden Age . 

In his 1620 treatise, Novum Organum , Sir Francis Bacon codified the scientific method, arguing not only that hypotheses must be tested through experiments but also that the results must be replicated to establish a truth. Coming at the height of the Scientific Revolution, this text made the scientific method accessible to European thinkers like Galileo and Isaac Newton who then put the method into practice.

As science modernized in the 19th century, the scientific method became more formalized, leading to significant breakthroughs in fields such as evolution and germ theory. Today, it continues to evolve, underpinning scientific progress in diverse areas like quantum mechanics, genetics, and artificial intelligence.

Why is the scientific method important?

The history of the scientific method illustrates how the concept developed out of a need to find objective answers to scientific questions by overcoming biases based on fear, religion, power, and cultural norms. This still holds true today.

By implementing this standardized approach to conducting experiments, the impacts of researchers’ personal opinions and preconceived notions are minimized. The organized manner of the scientific method prevents these and other mistakes while promoting the replicability and transparency necessary for solid scientific research.

The importance of the scientific method is best observed through its successes, for example: 

• “ Albert Einstein stands out among modern physicists as the scientist who not only formulated a theory of revolutionary significance but also had the genius to reflect in a conscious and technical way on the scientific method he was using.” Devising a hypothesis based on the prevailing understanding of Newtonian physics eventually led Einstein to devise the theory of general relativity .
• Howard Florey “Perhaps the most useful lesson which has come out of the work on penicillin has been the demonstration that success in this field depends on the development and coordinated use of technical methods.” After discovering a mold that prevented the growth of Staphylococcus bacteria, Dr. Alexander Flemimg designed experiments to identify and reproduce it in the lab, thus leading to the development of penicillin .
• James D. Watson “Every time you understand something, religion becomes less likely. Only with the discovery of the double helix and the ensuing genetic revolution have we had grounds for thinking that the powers held traditionally to be the exclusive property of the gods might one day be ours. . . .” By using wire models to conceive a structure for DNA, Watson and Crick crafted a hypothesis for testing combinations of amino acids, X-ray diffraction images, and the current research in atomic physics, resulting in the discovery of DNA’s double helix structure .

Final thoughts

As the cases exemplify, the scientific method is never truly completed, but rather started and restarted. It gave these researchers a structured process that was easily replicated, modified, and built upon. 

While the scientific method may “end” in one context, it never literally ends. When a hypothesis, design, methods, and experiments are revisited, the scientific method simply picks up where it left off. Each time a researcher builds upon previous knowledge, the scientific method is restored with the pieces of past efforts.

By guiding researchers towards objective results based on transparency and reproducibility, the scientific method acts as a defense against bias, superstition, and preconceived notions. As we embrace the scientific method's enduring principles, we ensure that our quest for knowledge remains firmly rooted in reason, evidence, and the pursuit of truth.

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What Are The Steps Of The Scientific Method?

Julia Simkus

Editor at Simply Psychology

BA (Hons) Psychology, Princeton University

Julia Simkus is a graduate of Princeton University with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. She is currently studying for a Master's Degree in Counseling for Mental Health and Wellness in September 2023. Julia's research has been published in peer reviewed journals.

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Saul McLeod, PhD

Editor-in-Chief for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MRes, PhD, University of Manchester

Saul McLeod, PhD., is a qualified psychology teacher with over 18 years of experience in further and higher education. He has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Clinical Psychology.

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Associate Editor for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MSc Psychology of Education

Olivia Guy-Evans is a writer and associate editor for Simply Psychology. She has previously worked in healthcare and educational sectors.

On This Page:

Science is not just knowledge. It is also a method for obtaining knowledge. Scientific understanding is organized into theories.

The scientific method is a step-by-step process used by researchers and scientists to determine if there is a relationship between two or more variables. Psychologists use this method to conduct psychological research, gather data, process information, and describe behaviors.

It involves careful observation, asking questions, formulating hypotheses, experimental testing, and refining hypotheses based on experimental findings.

How it is Used

The scientific method can be applied broadly in science across many different fields, such as chemistry, physics, geology, and psychology. In a typical application of this process, a researcher will develop a hypothesis, test this hypothesis, and then modify the hypothesis based on the outcomes of the experiment.

The process is then repeated with the modified hypothesis until the results align with the observed phenomena. Detailed steps of the scientific method are described below.

Keep in mind that the scientific method does not have to follow this fixed sequence of steps; rather, these steps represent a set of general principles or guidelines.

7 Steps of the Scientific Method

Psychology uses an empirical approach.

Empiricism (founded by John Locke) states that the only source of knowledge comes through our senses – e.g., sight, hearing, touch, etc.

Empirical evidence does not rely on argument or belief. Thus, empiricism is the view that all knowledge is based on or may come from direct observation and experience.

The empiricist approach of gaining knowledge through experience quickly became the scientific approach and greatly influenced the development of physics and chemistry in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Step 1: Make an Observation (Theory Construction)

Every researcher starts at the very beginning. Before diving in and exploring something, one must first determine what they will study – it seems simple enough!

By making observations, researchers can establish an area of interest. Once this topic of study has been chosen, a researcher should review existing literature to gain insight into what has already been tested and determine what questions remain unanswered.

This assessment will provide helpful information about what has already been comprehended about the specific topic and what questions remain, and if one can go and answer them.

Specifically, a literature review might implicate examining a substantial amount of documented material from academic journals to books dating back decades. The most appropriate information gathered by the researcher will be shown in the introduction section or abstract of the published study results.

The background material and knowledge will help the researcher with the first significant step in conducting a psychology study, which is formulating a research question.

This is the inductive phase of the scientific process. Observations yield information that is used to formulate theories as explanations. A theory is a well-developed set of ideas that propose an explanation for observed phenomena.

Inductive reasoning moves from specific premises to a general conclusion. It starts with observations of phenomena in the natural world and derives a general law.

Step 2: Ask a Question

Once a researcher has made observations and conducted background research, the next step is to ask a scientific question. A scientific question must be defined, testable, and measurable.

A useful approach to develop a scientific question is: “What is the effect of…?” or “How does X affect Y?”

To answer an experimental question, a researcher must identify two variables: the independent and dependent variables.

The independent variable is the variable manipulated (the cause), and the dependent variable is the variable being measured (the effect).

An example of a research question could be, “Is handwriting or typing more effective for retaining information?” Answering the research question and proposing a relationship between the two variables is discussed in the next step.

Step 3: Form a Hypothesis (Make Predictions)

A hypothesis is an educated guess about the relationship between two or more variables. A hypothesis is an attempt to answer your research question based on prior observation and background research. Theories tend to be too complex to be tested all at once; instead, researchers create hypotheses to test specific aspects of a theory.

For example, a researcher might ask about the connection between sleep and educational performance. Do students who get less sleep perform worse on tests at school?

It is crucial to think about different questions one might have about a particular topic to formulate a reasonable hypothesis. It would help if one also considered how one could investigate the causalities.

It is important that the hypothesis is both testable against reality and falsifiable. This means that it can be tested through an experiment and can be proven wrong.

The falsification principle, proposed by Karl Popper , is a way of demarcating science from non-science. It suggests that for a theory to be considered scientific, it must be able to be tested and conceivably proven false.

To test a hypothesis, we first assume that there is no difference between the populations from which the samples were taken. This is known as the null hypothesis and predicts that the independent variable will not influence the dependent variable.

Examples of “if…then…” Hypotheses:

• If one gets less than 6 hours of sleep, then one will do worse on tests than if one obtains more rest.
• If one drinks lots of water before going to bed, one will have to use the bathroom often at night.
• If one practices exercising and lighting weights, then one’s body will begin to build muscle.

The research hypothesis is often called the alternative hypothesis and predicts what change(s) will occur in the dependent variable when the independent variable is manipulated.

It states that the results are not due to chance and that they are significant in terms of supporting the theory being investigated.

Although one could state and write a scientific hypothesis in many ways, hypotheses are usually built like “if…then…” statements.

Step 4: Run an Experiment (Gather Data)

The next step in the scientific method is to test your hypothesis and collect data. A researcher will design an experiment to test the hypothesis and gather data that will either support or refute the hypothesis.

The exact research methods used to examine a hypothesis depend on what is being studied. A psychologist might utilize two primary forms of research, experimental research, and descriptive research.

The scientific method is objective in that researchers do not let preconceived ideas or biases influence the collection of data and is systematic in that experiments are conducted in a logical way.

Experimental Research

Experimental research is used to investigate cause-and-effect associations between two or more variables. This type of research systematically controls an independent variable and measures its effect on a specified dependent variable.

Experimental research involves manipulating an independent variable and measuring the effect(s) on the dependent variable. Repeating the experiment multiple times is important to confirm that your results are accurate and consistent.

One of the significant advantages of this method is that it permits researchers to determine if changes in one variable cause shifts in each other.

While experiments in psychology typically have many moving parts (and can be relatively complex), an easy investigation is rather fundamental. Still, it does allow researchers to specify cause-and-effect associations between variables.

Most simple experiments use a control group, which involves those who do not receive the treatment, and an experimental group, which involves those who do receive the treatment.

An example of experimental research would be when a pharmaceutical company wants to test a new drug. They give one group a placebo (control group) and the other the actual pill (experimental group).

Descriptive Research

Descriptive research is generally used when it is challenging or even impossible to control the variables in question. Examples of descriptive analysis include naturalistic observation, case studies , and correlation studies .

One example of descriptive research includes phone surveys that marketers often use. While they typically do not allow researchers to identify cause and effect, correlational studies are quite common in psychology research. They make it possible to spot associations between distinct variables and measure the solidity of those relationships.

Step 5: Analyze the Data and Draw Conclusions

Once a researcher has designed and done the investigation and collected sufficient data, it is time to inspect this gathered information and judge what has been found. Researchers can summarize the data, interpret the results, and draw conclusions based on this evidence using analyses and statistics.

Upon completion of the experiment, you can collect your measurements and analyze the data using statistics. Based on the outcomes, you will either reject or confirm your hypothesis.

Analyze the Data

So, how does a researcher determine what the results of their study mean? Statistical analysis can either support or refute a researcher’s hypothesis and can also be used to determine if the conclusions are statistically significant.

When outcomes are said to be “statistically significant,” it is improbable that these results are due to luck or chance. Based on these observations, investigators must then determine what the results mean.

An experiment will support a hypothesis in some circumstances, but sometimes it fails to be truthful in other cases.

What occurs if the developments of a psychology investigation do not endorse the researcher’s hypothesis? It does mean that the study was worthless. Simply because the findings fail to defend the researcher’s hypothesis does not mean that the examination is not helpful or instructive.

This kind of research plays a vital role in supporting scientists in developing unexplored questions and hypotheses to investigate in the future. After decisions have been made, the next step is to communicate the results with the rest of the scientific community.

This is an integral part of the process because it contributes to the general knowledge base and can assist other scientists in finding new research routes to explore.

If the hypothesis is not supported, a researcher should acknowledge the experiment’s results, formulate a new hypothesis, and develop a new experiment.

We must avoid any reference to results proving a theory as this implies 100% certainty, and there is always a chance that evidence may exist that could refute a theory.

Draw Conclusions and Interpret the Data

When the empirical observations disagree with the hypothesis, a number of possibilities must be considered. It might be that the theory is incorrect, in which case it needs altering, so it fully explains the data.

Alternatively, it might be that the hypothesis was poorly derived from the original theory, in which case the scientists were expecting the wrong thing to happen.

It might also be that the research was poorly conducted, or used an inappropriate method, or there were factors in play that the researchers did not consider. This will begin the process of the scientific method again.

If the hypothesis is supported, the researcher can find more evidence to support their hypothesis or look for counter-evidence to strengthen their hypothesis further.

In either scenario, the researcher should share their results with the greater scientific community.

Step 6: Share Your Results

One of the final stages of the research cycle involves the publication of the research. Once the report is written, the researcher(s) may submit the work for publication in an appropriate journal.

Usually, this is done by writing up a study description and publishing the article in a professional or academic journal. The studies and conclusions of psychological work can be seen in peer-reviewed journals such as  Developmental Psychology , Psychological Bulletin, the  Journal of Social Psychology, and numerous others.

Scientists should report their findings by writing up a description of their study and any subsequent findings. This enables other researchers to build upon the present research or replicate the results.

As outlined by the American Psychological Association (APA), there is a typical structure of a journal article that follows a specified format. In these articles, researchers:

• Supply a brief narrative and background on previous research
• Give their hypothesis
• Specify who participated in the study and how they were chosen
• Provide operational definitions for each variable
• Explain the measures and methods used to collect data
• Describe how the data collected was interpreted
• Discuss what the outcomes mean

A detailed record of psychological studies and all scientific studies is vital to clearly explain the steps and procedures used throughout the study. So that other researchers can try this experiment too and replicate the results.

The editorial process utilized by academic and professional journals guarantees that each submitted article undergoes a thorough peer review to help assure that the study is scientifically sound. Once published, the investigation becomes another piece of the current puzzle of our knowledge “base” on that subject.

This last step is important because all results, whether they supported or did not support the hypothesis, can contribute to the scientific community. Publication of empirical observations leads to more ideas that are tested against the real world, and so on. In this sense, the scientific process is circular.

The editorial process utilized by academic and professional journals guarantees that each submitted article undergoes a thorough peer review to help assure that the study is scientifically sound.

Once published, the investigation becomes another piece of the current puzzle of our knowledge “base” on that subject.

By replicating studies, psychologists can reduce errors, validate theories, and gain a stronger understanding of a particular topic.

Step 7: Repeat the Scientific Method (Iteration)

Now, if one’s hypothesis turns out to be accurate, find more evidence or find counter-evidence. If one’s hypothesis is false, create a new hypothesis or try again.

One may wish to revise their first hypothesis to make a more niche experiment to design or a different specific question to test.

The amazingness of the scientific method is that it is a comprehensive and straightforward process that scientists, and everyone, can utilize over and over again.

So, draw conclusions and repeat because the scientific method is never-ending, and no result is ever considered perfect.

The scientific method is a process of:

• Making an observation.
• Forming a hypothesis.
• Making a prediction.
• Experimenting to test the hypothesis.

The procedure of repeating the scientific method is crucial to science and all fields of human knowledge.

Further Information

• Karl Popper – Falsification
• Thomas – Kuhn Paradigm Shift
• Positivism in Sociology: Definition, Theory & Examples
• Is Psychology a Science?
• Psychology as a Science (PDF)

List the 6 steps of the scientific methods in order

• Make an observation (theory construction)
• Ask a question. A scientific question must be defined, testable, and measurable.
• Form a hypothesis (make predictions)
• Run an experiment to test the hypothesis (gather data)
• Analyze the data and draw conclusions
• Share your results so that other researchers can make new hypotheses

What is the first step of the scientific method?

The first step of the scientific method is making an observation. This involves noticing and describing a phenomenon or group of phenomena that one finds interesting and wishes to explain.

Observations can occur in a natural setting or within the confines of a laboratory. The key point is that the observation provides the initial question or problem that the rest of the scientific method seeks to answer or solve.

What is the scientific method?

The scientific method is a step-by-step process that investigators can follow to determine if there is a causal connection between two or more variables.

Psychologists and other scientists regularly suggest motivations for human behavior. On a more casual level, people judge other people’s intentions, incentives, and actions daily.

While our standard assessments of human behavior are subjective and anecdotal, researchers use the scientific method to study psychology objectively and systematically.

All utilize a scientific method to study distinct aspects of people’s thinking and behavior. This process allows scientists to analyze and understand various psychological phenomena, but it also provides investigators and others a way to disseminate and debate the results of their studies.

The outcomes of these studies are often noted in popular media, which leads numerous to think about how or why researchers came to the findings they did.

Why Use the Six Steps of the Scientific Method

The goal of scientists is to understand better the world that surrounds us. Scientific research is the most critical tool for navigating and learning about our complex world.

Without it, we would be compelled to rely solely on intuition, other people’s power, and luck. We can eliminate our preconceived concepts and superstitions through methodical scientific research and gain an objective sense of ourselves and our world.

All psychological studies aim to explain, predict, and even control or impact mental behaviors or processes. So, psychologists use and repeat the scientific method (and its six steps) to perform and record essential psychological research.

So, psychologists focus on understanding behavior and the cognitive (mental) and physiological (body) processes underlying behavior.

In the real world, people use to understand the behavior of others, such as intuition and personal experience. The hallmark of scientific research is evidence to support a claim.

Scientific knowledge is empirical, meaning it is grounded in objective, tangible evidence that can be observed repeatedly, regardless of who is watching.

The scientific method is crucial because it minimizes the impact of bias or prejudice on the experimenter. Regardless of how hard one tries, even the best-intentioned scientists can’t escape discrimination. can’t

It stems from personal opinions and cultural beliefs, meaning any mortal filters data based on one’s experience. Sadly, this “filtering” process can cause a scientist to favor one outcome over another.

For an everyday person trying to solve a minor issue at home or work, succumbing to these biases is not such a big deal; in fact, most times, it is important.

But in the scientific community, where results must be inspected and reproduced, bias or discrimination must be avoided.

When to Use the Six Steps of the Scientific Method ?

One can use the scientific method anytime, anywhere! From the smallest conundrum to solving global problems, it is a process that can be applied to any science and any investigation.

Even if you are not considered a “scientist,” you will be surprised to know that people of all disciplines use it for all kinds of dilemmas.

Try to catch yourself next time you come by a question and see how you subconsciously or consciously use the scientific method.

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scientific method

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• University of Nevada, Reno - College of Agriculture, Biotechnology and Natural Resources Extension - The Scientific Method
• World History Encyclopedia - Scientific Method
• LiveScience - What Is Science?
• Verywell Mind - Scientific Method Steps in Psychology Research
• WebMD - What is the Scientific Method?
• Chemistry LibreTexts - The Scientific Method
• National Center for Biotechnology Information - PubMed Central - Redefining the scientific method: as the use of sophisticated scientific methods that extend our mind
• Khan Academy - The scientific method
• Simply Psychology - What are the steps in the Scientific Method?
• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy - Scientific Method

scientific method , mathematical and experimental technique employed in the sciences . More specifically, it is the technique used in the construction and testing of a scientific hypothesis .

The process of observing, asking questions, and seeking answers through tests and experiments is not unique to any one field of science. In fact, the scientific method is applied broadly in science, across many different fields. Many empirical sciences, especially the social sciences , use mathematical tools borrowed from probability theory and statistics , together with outgrowths of these, such as decision theory , game theory , utility theory, and operations research . Philosophers of science have addressed general methodological problems, such as the nature of scientific explanation and the justification of induction .

The scientific method is critical to the development of scientific theories , which explain empirical (experiential) laws in a scientifically rational manner. In a typical application of the scientific method, a researcher develops a hypothesis , tests it through various means, and then modifies the hypothesis on the basis of the outcome of the tests and experiments. The modified hypothesis is then retested, further modified, and tested again, until it becomes consistent with observed phenomena and testing outcomes. In this way, hypotheses serve as tools by which scientists gather data. From that data and the many different scientific investigations undertaken to explore hypotheses, scientists are able to develop broad general explanations, or scientific theories.

See also Mill’s methods ; hypothetico-deductive method .

Six Steps of the Scientific Method

Learn What Makes Each Stage Important

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The scientific method is a systematic way of learning about the world around us. The key difference between the scientific method and other ways of acquiring knowledge is that, when using the scientific method, we make hypotheses and then test them with an experiment.

Anyone can use the scientific method to acquire knowledge by asking questions and then working to find the answers to those questions. Below are the six steps involved in the scientific method and variables you may encounter when working with this method.

The Six Steps

The number of steps in the scientific method can vary from one description to another (which mainly happens when data and analysis are separated into separate steps), however, below is a fairly standard list of the six steps you'll likely be expected to know for any science class:

• Purpose/Question Ask a question.
• Research Conduct background research. Write down your sources so you can cite your references. In the modern era, you might conduct much of your research online. As you read articles and papers online, ensure you scroll to the bottom of the text to check the author's references. Even if you can't access the full text of a published article, you can usually view the abstract to see the summary of other experiments . Interview experts on a topic. The more you know about a subject, the easier it'll be to conduct your investigation.
• Hypothesis Propose a hypothesis . This is a sort of educated guess about what you expect your research to reveal. A hypothesis is a statement used to predict the outcome of an experiment. Usually, a hypothesis is written in terms of cause and effect. Alternatively, it may describe the relationship between two phenomena. The null hypothesis or the no-difference hypothesis is one type of hypothesis that's easy to test because it assumes changing a variable will not affect the outcome. In reality, you probably expect a change, but rejecting a hypothesis may be more useful than accepting one.
• Experiment Design and experiment to test your hypothesis. An experiment has an independent and dependent variable. You change or control the independent variable and record the effect it has on the dependent variable . It's important to change only one variable for an experiment rather than try to combine the effects of variables in an experiment. For example, if you want to test the effects of light intensity and fertilizer concentration on the growth rate of a plant, you're looking at two separate experiments.
• Data/Analysis Record observations and analyze the meaning of the data. Often, you'll prepare a table or graph of the data. Don't throw out data points you think are bad or that don't support your predictions. Some of the most incredible discoveries in science were made because the data looked wrong! Once you have the data, you may need to perform a mathematical analysis to support or refute your hypothesis.
• Conclusion Conclude whether to accept or reject your hypothesis. There's no right or wrong outcome to an experiment, so either result is fine. Accepting a hypothesis doesn't necessarily mean it's correct! Sometimes repeating an experiment may give a different result. In other cases, a hypothesis may predict an outcome, yet you might draw an incorrect conclusion. Communicate your results. You can compile your results into a lab report or formally submit them as a paper . Whether you accept or reject the hypothesis, you likely learned something about the subject and may wish to revise the original hypothesis or form a new one for a future experiment.

When Are There Seven Steps?

Some teach the scientific method with seven steps instead of six. In the seven-step model, the first step is to make observations. Even if you don't make observations formally, you should think about prior experiences with a subject to ask a question or solve a problem.

Formal observations are a type of brainstorming that can help you find an idea and form a hypothesis. Observe your subject and record everything about it. Include colors, timing, sounds, temperatures, changes, behavior, and anything that strikes you as interesting or significant.

When you design an experiment, you're controlling and measuring variables. There are three types of variables:

• Controlled Variables:  You can have as many  controlled variables  as you like. These are parts of the experiment that you try to keep constant throughout an experiment so they won't interfere with your test. Writing down controlled variables is a good idea because it helps make your experiment  reproducible , which is important in science! If you have trouble duplicating results from one experiment to another, there may be a controlled variable you missed.
• Independent Variable:  This is the variable you control.
• Dependent Variable:  This is the variable you measure. It's called the dependent variable because it  depends  on the independent variable.
• Null Hypothesis Examples
• Scientific Method Flow Chart
• Random Error vs. Systematic Error
• What Is an Experimental Constant?
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• What Is a Hypothesis? (Science)
• What Are the Elements of a Good Hypothesis?
• What Are Examples of a Hypothesis?
• What Is a Testable Hypothesis?
• Scientific Hypothesis Examples
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• Understanding Simple vs Controlled Experiments
• The Role of a Controlled Variable in an Experiment
• What Is the Difference Between a Control Variable and Control Group?
• What Is a Controlled Experiment?
• DRY MIX Experiment Variables Acronym

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A Practical Guide to Writing Quantitative and Qualitative Research Questions and Hypotheses in Scholarly Articles

Edward barroga.

1 Department of General Education, Graduate School of Nursing Science, St. Luke’s International University, Tokyo, Japan.

Glafera Janet Matanguihan

2 Department of Biological Sciences, Messiah University, Mechanicsburg, PA, USA.

The development of research questions and the subsequent hypotheses are prerequisites to defining the main research purpose and specific objectives of a study. Consequently, these objectives determine the study design and research outcome. The development of research questions is a process based on knowledge of current trends, cutting-edge studies, and technological advances in the research field. Excellent research questions are focused and require a comprehensive literature search and in-depth understanding of the problem being investigated. Initially, research questions may be written as descriptive questions which could be developed into inferential questions. These questions must be specific and concise to provide a clear foundation for developing hypotheses. Hypotheses are more formal predictions about the research outcomes. These specify the possible results that may or may not be expected regarding the relationship between groups. Thus, research questions and hypotheses clarify the main purpose and specific objectives of the study, which in turn dictate the design of the study, its direction, and outcome. Studies developed from good research questions and hypotheses will have trustworthy outcomes with wide-ranging social and health implications.

INTRODUCTION

Scientific research is usually initiated by posing evidenced-based research questions which are then explicitly restated as hypotheses. 1 , 2 The hypotheses provide directions to guide the study, solutions, explanations, and expected results. 3 , 4 Both research questions and hypotheses are essentially formulated based on conventional theories and real-world processes, which allow the inception of novel studies and the ethical testing of ideas. 5 , 6

It is crucial to have knowledge of both quantitative and qualitative research 2 as both types of research involve writing research questions and hypotheses. 7 However, these crucial elements of research are sometimes overlooked; if not overlooked, then framed without the forethought and meticulous attention it needs. Planning and careful consideration are needed when developing quantitative or qualitative research, particularly when conceptualizing research questions and hypotheses. 4

There is a continuing need to support researchers in the creation of innovative research questions and hypotheses, as well as for journal articles that carefully review these elements. 1 When research questions and hypotheses are not carefully thought of, unethical studies and poor outcomes usually ensue. Carefully formulated research questions and hypotheses define well-founded objectives, which in turn determine the appropriate design, course, and outcome of the study. This article then aims to discuss in detail the various aspects of crafting research questions and hypotheses, with the goal of guiding researchers as they develop their own. Examples from the authors and peer-reviewed scientific articles in the healthcare field are provided to illustrate key points.

DEFINITIONS AND RELATIONSHIP OF RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND HYPOTHESES

A research question is what a study aims to answer after data analysis and interpretation. The answer is written in length in the discussion section of the paper. Thus, the research question gives a preview of the different parts and variables of the study meant to address the problem posed in the research question. 1 An excellent research question clarifies the research writing while facilitating understanding of the research topic, objective, scope, and limitations of the study. 5

On the other hand, a research hypothesis is an educated statement of an expected outcome. This statement is based on background research and current knowledge. 8 , 9 The research hypothesis makes a specific prediction about a new phenomenon 10 or a formal statement on the expected relationship between an independent variable and a dependent variable. 3 , 11 It provides a tentative answer to the research question to be tested or explored. 4

Hypotheses employ reasoning to predict a theory-based outcome. 10 These can also be developed from theories by focusing on components of theories that have not yet been observed. 10 The validity of hypotheses is often based on the testability of the prediction made in a reproducible experiment. 8

Conversely, hypotheses can also be rephrased as research questions. Several hypotheses based on existing theories and knowledge may be needed to answer a research question. Developing ethical research questions and hypotheses creates a research design that has logical relationships among variables. These relationships serve as a solid foundation for the conduct of the study. 4 , 11 Haphazardly constructed research questions can result in poorly formulated hypotheses and improper study designs, leading to unreliable results. Thus, the formulations of relevant research questions and verifiable hypotheses are crucial when beginning research. 12

CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND HYPOTHESES

Excellent research questions are specific and focused. These integrate collective data and observations to confirm or refute the subsequent hypotheses. Well-constructed hypotheses are based on previous reports and verify the research context. These are realistic, in-depth, sufficiently complex, and reproducible. More importantly, these hypotheses can be addressed and tested. 13

There are several characteristics of well-developed hypotheses. Good hypotheses are 1) empirically testable 7 , 10 , 11 , 13 ; 2) backed by preliminary evidence 9 ; 3) testable by ethical research 7 , 9 ; 4) based on original ideas 9 ; 5) have evidenced-based logical reasoning 10 ; and 6) can be predicted. 11 Good hypotheses can infer ethical and positive implications, indicating the presence of a relationship or effect relevant to the research theme. 7 , 11 These are initially developed from a general theory and branch into specific hypotheses by deductive reasoning. In the absence of a theory to base the hypotheses, inductive reasoning based on specific observations or findings form more general hypotheses. 10

TYPES OF RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND HYPOTHESES

Research questions and hypotheses are developed according to the type of research, which can be broadly classified into quantitative and qualitative research. We provide a summary of the types of research questions and hypotheses under quantitative and qualitative research categories in Table 1 .

Research questions in quantitative research

In quantitative research, research questions inquire about the relationships among variables being investigated and are usually framed at the start of the study. These are precise and typically linked to the subject population, dependent and independent variables, and research design. 1 Research questions may also attempt to describe the behavior of a population in relation to one or more variables, or describe the characteristics of variables to be measured ( descriptive research questions ). 1 , 5 , 14 These questions may also aim to discover differences between groups within the context of an outcome variable ( comparative research questions ), 1 , 5 , 14 or elucidate trends and interactions among variables ( relationship research questions ). 1 , 5 We provide examples of descriptive, comparative, and relationship research questions in quantitative research in Table 2 .

Hypotheses in quantitative research

In quantitative research, hypotheses predict the expected relationships among variables. 15 Relationships among variables that can be predicted include 1) between a single dependent variable and a single independent variable ( simple hypothesis ) or 2) between two or more independent and dependent variables ( complex hypothesis ). 4 , 11 Hypotheses may also specify the expected direction to be followed and imply an intellectual commitment to a particular outcome ( directional hypothesis ) 4 . On the other hand, hypotheses may not predict the exact direction and are used in the absence of a theory, or when findings contradict previous studies ( non-directional hypothesis ). 4 In addition, hypotheses can 1) define interdependency between variables ( associative hypothesis ), 4 2) propose an effect on the dependent variable from manipulation of the independent variable ( causal hypothesis ), 4 3) state a negative relationship between two variables ( null hypothesis ), 4 , 11 , 15 4) replace the working hypothesis if rejected ( alternative hypothesis ), 15 explain the relationship of phenomena to possibly generate a theory ( working hypothesis ), 11 5) involve quantifiable variables that can be tested statistically ( statistical hypothesis ), 11 6) or express a relationship whose interlinks can be verified logically ( logical hypothesis ). 11 We provide examples of simple, complex, directional, non-directional, associative, causal, null, alternative, working, statistical, and logical hypotheses in quantitative research, as well as the definition of quantitative hypothesis-testing research in Table 3 .

Research questions in qualitative research

Unlike research questions in quantitative research, research questions in qualitative research are usually continuously reviewed and reformulated. The central question and associated subquestions are stated more than the hypotheses. 15 The central question broadly explores a complex set of factors surrounding the central phenomenon, aiming to present the varied perspectives of participants. 15

There are varied goals for which qualitative research questions are developed. These questions can function in several ways, such as to 1) identify and describe existing conditions ( contextual research question s); 2) describe a phenomenon ( descriptive research questions ); 3) assess the effectiveness of existing methods, protocols, theories, or procedures ( evaluation research questions ); 4) examine a phenomenon or analyze the reasons or relationships between subjects or phenomena ( explanatory research questions ); or 5) focus on unknown aspects of a particular topic ( exploratory research questions ). 5 In addition, some qualitative research questions provide new ideas for the development of theories and actions ( generative research questions ) or advance specific ideologies of a position ( ideological research questions ). 1 Other qualitative research questions may build on a body of existing literature and become working guidelines ( ethnographic research questions ). Research questions may also be broadly stated without specific reference to the existing literature or a typology of questions ( phenomenological research questions ), may be directed towards generating a theory of some process ( grounded theory questions ), or may address a description of the case and the emerging themes ( qualitative case study questions ). 15 We provide examples of contextual, descriptive, evaluation, explanatory, exploratory, generative, ideological, ethnographic, phenomenological, grounded theory, and qualitative case study research questions in qualitative research in Table 4 , and the definition of qualitative hypothesis-generating research in Table 5 .

Qualitative studies usually pose at least one central research question and several subquestions starting with How or What . These research questions use exploratory verbs such as explore or describe . These also focus on one central phenomenon of interest, and may mention the participants and research site. 15

Hypotheses in qualitative research

Hypotheses in qualitative research are stated in the form of a clear statement concerning the problem to be investigated. Unlike in quantitative research where hypotheses are usually developed to be tested, qualitative research can lead to both hypothesis-testing and hypothesis-generating outcomes. 2 When studies require both quantitative and qualitative research questions, this suggests an integrative process between both research methods wherein a single mixed-methods research question can be developed. 1

FRAMEWORKS FOR DEVELOPING RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND HYPOTHESES

Research questions followed by hypotheses should be developed before the start of the study. 1 , 12 , 14 It is crucial to develop feasible research questions on a topic that is interesting to both the researcher and the scientific community. This can be achieved by a meticulous review of previous and current studies to establish a novel topic. Specific areas are subsequently focused on to generate ethical research questions. The relevance of the research questions is evaluated in terms of clarity of the resulting data, specificity of the methodology, objectivity of the outcome, depth of the research, and impact of the study. 1 , 5 These aspects constitute the FINER criteria (i.e., Feasible, Interesting, Novel, Ethical, and Relevant). 1 Clarity and effectiveness are achieved if research questions meet the FINER criteria. In addition to the FINER criteria, Ratan et al. described focus, complexity, novelty, feasibility, and measurability for evaluating the effectiveness of research questions. 14

The PICOT and PEO frameworks are also used when developing research questions. 1 The following elements are addressed in these frameworks, PICOT: P-population/patients/problem, I-intervention or indicator being studied, C-comparison group, O-outcome of interest, and T-timeframe of the study; PEO: P-population being studied, E-exposure to preexisting conditions, and O-outcome of interest. 1 Research questions are also considered good if these meet the “FINERMAPS” framework: Feasible, Interesting, Novel, Ethical, Relevant, Manageable, Appropriate, Potential value/publishable, and Systematic. 14

As we indicated earlier, research questions and hypotheses that are not carefully formulated result in unethical studies or poor outcomes. To illustrate this, we provide some examples of ambiguous research question and hypotheses that result in unclear and weak research objectives in quantitative research ( Table 6 ) 16 and qualitative research ( Table 7 ) 17 , and how to transform these ambiguous research question(s) and hypothesis(es) into clear and good statements.

a These statements were composed for comparison and illustrative purposes only.

b These statements are direct quotes from Higashihara and Horiuchi. 16

a This statement is a direct quote from Shimoda et al. 17

The other statements were composed for comparison and illustrative purposes only.

CONSTRUCTING RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND HYPOTHESES

To construct effective research questions and hypotheses, it is very important to 1) clarify the background and 2) identify the research problem at the outset of the research, within a specific timeframe. 9 Then, 3) review or conduct preliminary research to collect all available knowledge about the possible research questions by studying theories and previous studies. 18 Afterwards, 4) construct research questions to investigate the research problem. Identify variables to be accessed from the research questions 4 and make operational definitions of constructs from the research problem and questions. Thereafter, 5) construct specific deductive or inductive predictions in the form of hypotheses. 4 Finally, 6) state the study aims . This general flow for constructing effective research questions and hypotheses prior to conducting research is shown in Fig. 1 .

Research questions are used more frequently in qualitative research than objectives or hypotheses. 3 These questions seek to discover, understand, explore or describe experiences by asking “What” or “How.” The questions are open-ended to elicit a description rather than to relate variables or compare groups. The questions are continually reviewed, reformulated, and changed during the qualitative study. 3 Research questions are also used more frequently in survey projects than hypotheses in experiments in quantitative research to compare variables and their relationships.

Hypotheses are constructed based on the variables identified and as an if-then statement, following the template, ‘If a specific action is taken, then a certain outcome is expected.’ At this stage, some ideas regarding expectations from the research to be conducted must be drawn. 18 Then, the variables to be manipulated (independent) and influenced (dependent) are defined. 4 Thereafter, the hypothesis is stated and refined, and reproducible data tailored to the hypothesis are identified, collected, and analyzed. 4 The hypotheses must be testable and specific, 18 and should describe the variables and their relationships, the specific group being studied, and the predicted research outcome. 18 Hypotheses construction involves a testable proposition to be deduced from theory, and independent and dependent variables to be separated and measured separately. 3 Therefore, good hypotheses must be based on good research questions constructed at the start of a study or trial. 12

In summary, research questions are constructed after establishing the background of the study. Hypotheses are then developed based on the research questions. Thus, it is crucial to have excellent research questions to generate superior hypotheses. In turn, these would determine the research objectives and the design of the study, and ultimately, the outcome of the research. 12 Algorithms for building research questions and hypotheses are shown in Fig. 2 for quantitative research and in Fig. 3 for qualitative research.

EXAMPLES OF RESEARCH QUESTIONS FROM PUBLISHED ARTICLES

• EXAMPLE 1. Descriptive research question (quantitative research)
• - Presents research variables to be assessed (distinct phenotypes and subphenotypes)
• “BACKGROUND: Since COVID-19 was identified, its clinical and biological heterogeneity has been recognized. Identifying COVID-19 phenotypes might help guide basic, clinical, and translational research efforts.
• RESEARCH QUESTION: Does the clinical spectrum of patients with COVID-19 contain distinct phenotypes and subphenotypes? ” 19
• EXAMPLE 2. Relationship research question (quantitative research)
• - Shows interactions between dependent variable (static postural control) and independent variable (peripheral visual field loss)
• “Background: Integration of visual, vestibular, and proprioceptive sensations contributes to postural control. People with peripheral visual field loss have serious postural instability. However, the directional specificity of postural stability and sensory reweighting caused by gradual peripheral visual field loss remain unclear.
• Research question: What are the effects of peripheral visual field loss on static postural control ?” 20
• EXAMPLE 3. Comparative research question (quantitative research)
• - Clarifies the difference among groups with an outcome variable (patients enrolled in COMPERA with moderate PH or severe PH in COPD) and another group without the outcome variable (patients with idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (IPAH))
• “BACKGROUND: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) in COPD is a poorly investigated clinical condition.
• RESEARCH QUESTION: Which factors determine the outcome of PH in COPD?
• STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: We analyzed the characteristics and outcome of patients enrolled in the Comparative, Prospective Registry of Newly Initiated Therapies for Pulmonary Hypertension (COMPERA) with moderate or severe PH in COPD as defined during the 6th PH World Symposium who received medical therapy for PH and compared them with patients with idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (IPAH) .” 21
• EXAMPLE 4. Exploratory research question (qualitative research)
• - Explores areas that have not been fully investigated (perspectives of families and children who receive care in clinic-based child obesity treatment) to have a deeper understanding of the research problem
• “Problem: Interventions for children with obesity lead to only modest improvements in BMI and long-term outcomes, and data are limited on the perspectives of families of children with obesity in clinic-based treatment. This scoping review seeks to answer the question: What is known about the perspectives of families and children who receive care in clinic-based child obesity treatment? This review aims to explore the scope of perspectives reported by families of children with obesity who have received individualized outpatient clinic-based obesity treatment.” 22
• EXAMPLE 5. Relationship research question (quantitative research)
• - Defines interactions between dependent variable (use of ankle strategies) and independent variable (changes in muscle tone)
• “Background: To maintain an upright standing posture against external disturbances, the human body mainly employs two types of postural control strategies: “ankle strategy” and “hip strategy.” While it has been reported that the magnitude of the disturbance alters the use of postural control strategies, it has not been elucidated how the level of muscle tone, one of the crucial parameters of bodily function, determines the use of each strategy. We have previously confirmed using forward dynamics simulations of human musculoskeletal models that an increased muscle tone promotes the use of ankle strategies. The objective of the present study was to experimentally evaluate a hypothesis: an increased muscle tone promotes the use of ankle strategies. Research question: Do changes in the muscle tone affect the use of ankle strategies ?” 23

EXAMPLES OF HYPOTHESES IN PUBLISHED ARTICLES

• EXAMPLE 1. Working hypothesis (quantitative research)
• - A hypothesis that is initially accepted for further research to produce a feasible theory
• “As fever may have benefit in shortening the duration of viral illness, it is plausible to hypothesize that the antipyretic efficacy of ibuprofen may be hindering the benefits of a fever response when taken during the early stages of COVID-19 illness .” 24
• “In conclusion, it is plausible to hypothesize that the antipyretic efficacy of ibuprofen may be hindering the benefits of a fever response . The difference in perceived safety of these agents in COVID-19 illness could be related to the more potent efficacy to reduce fever with ibuprofen compared to acetaminophen. Compelling data on the benefit of fever warrant further research and review to determine when to treat or withhold ibuprofen for early stage fever for COVID-19 and other related viral illnesses .” 24
• EXAMPLE 2. Exploratory hypothesis (qualitative research)
• - Explores particular areas deeper to clarify subjective experience and develop a formal hypothesis potentially testable in a future quantitative approach
• “We hypothesized that when thinking about a past experience of help-seeking, a self distancing prompt would cause increased help-seeking intentions and more favorable help-seeking outcome expectations .” 25
• “Conclusion
• Although a priori hypotheses were not supported, further research is warranted as results indicate the potential for using self-distancing approaches to increasing help-seeking among some people with depressive symptomatology.” 25
• EXAMPLE 3. Hypothesis-generating research to establish a framework for hypothesis testing (qualitative research)
• “We hypothesize that compassionate care is beneficial for patients (better outcomes), healthcare systems and payers (lower costs), and healthcare providers (lower burnout). ” 26
• Compassionomics is the branch of knowledge and scientific study of the effects of compassionate healthcare. Our main hypotheses are that compassionate healthcare is beneficial for (1) patients, by improving clinical outcomes, (2) healthcare systems and payers, by supporting financial sustainability, and (3) HCPs, by lowering burnout and promoting resilience and well-being. The purpose of this paper is to establish a scientific framework for testing the hypotheses above . If these hypotheses are confirmed through rigorous research, compassionomics will belong in the science of evidence-based medicine, with major implications for all healthcare domains.” 26
• EXAMPLE 4. Statistical hypothesis (quantitative research)
• - An assumption is made about the relationship among several population characteristics ( gender differences in sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of adults with ADHD ). Validity is tested by statistical experiment or analysis ( chi-square test, Students t-test, and logistic regression analysis)
• “Our research investigated gender differences in sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of adults with ADHD in a Japanese clinical sample. Due to unique Japanese cultural ideals and expectations of women's behavior that are in opposition to ADHD symptoms, we hypothesized that women with ADHD experience more difficulties and present more dysfunctions than men . We tested the following hypotheses: first, women with ADHD have more comorbidities than men with ADHD; second, women with ADHD experience more social hardships than men, such as having less full-time employment and being more likely to be divorced.” 27
• “Statistical Analysis
• ( text omitted ) Between-gender comparisons were made using the chi-squared test for categorical variables and Students t-test for continuous variables…( text omitted ). A logistic regression analysis was performed for employment status, marital status, and comorbidity to evaluate the independent effects of gender on these dependent variables.” 27

EXAMPLES OF HYPOTHESIS AS WRITTEN IN PUBLISHED ARTICLES IN RELATION TO OTHER PARTS

• EXAMPLE 1. Background, hypotheses, and aims are provided
• “Pregnant women need skilled care during pregnancy and childbirth, but that skilled care is often delayed in some countries …( text omitted ). The focused antenatal care (FANC) model of WHO recommends that nurses provide information or counseling to all pregnant women …( text omitted ). Job aids are visual support materials that provide the right kind of information using graphics and words in a simple and yet effective manner. When nurses are not highly trained or have many work details to attend to, these job aids can serve as a content reminder for the nurses and can be used for educating their patients (Jennings, Yebadokpo, Affo, & Agbogbe, 2010) ( text omitted ). Importantly, additional evidence is needed to confirm how job aids can further improve the quality of ANC counseling by health workers in maternal care …( text omitted )” 28
• “ This has led us to hypothesize that the quality of ANC counseling would be better if supported by job aids. Consequently, a better quality of ANC counseling is expected to produce higher levels of awareness concerning the danger signs of pregnancy and a more favorable impression of the caring behavior of nurses .” 28
• “This study aimed to examine the differences in the responses of pregnant women to a job aid-supported intervention during ANC visit in terms of 1) their understanding of the danger signs of pregnancy and 2) their impression of the caring behaviors of nurses to pregnant women in rural Tanzania.” 28
• EXAMPLE 2. Background, hypotheses, and aims are provided
• “We conducted a two-arm randomized controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate and compare changes in salivary cortisol and oxytocin levels of first-time pregnant women between experimental and control groups. The women in the experimental group touched and held an infant for 30 min (experimental intervention protocol), whereas those in the control group watched a DVD movie of an infant (control intervention protocol). The primary outcome was salivary cortisol level and the secondary outcome was salivary oxytocin level.” 29
• “ We hypothesize that at 30 min after touching and holding an infant, the salivary cortisol level will significantly decrease and the salivary oxytocin level will increase in the experimental group compared with the control group .” 29
• EXAMPLE 3. Background, aim, and hypothesis are provided
• “In countries where the maternal mortality ratio remains high, antenatal education to increase Birth Preparedness and Complication Readiness (BPCR) is considered one of the top priorities [1]. BPCR includes birth plans during the antenatal period, such as the birthplace, birth attendant, transportation, health facility for complications, expenses, and birth materials, as well as family coordination to achieve such birth plans. In Tanzania, although increasing, only about half of all pregnant women attend an antenatal clinic more than four times [4]. Moreover, the information provided during antenatal care (ANC) is insufficient. In the resource-poor settings, antenatal group education is a potential approach because of the limited time for individual counseling at antenatal clinics.” 30
• “This study aimed to evaluate an antenatal group education program among pregnant women and their families with respect to birth-preparedness and maternal and infant outcomes in rural villages of Tanzania.” 30
• “ The study hypothesis was if Tanzanian pregnant women and their families received a family-oriented antenatal group education, they would (1) have a higher level of BPCR, (2) attend antenatal clinic four or more times, (3) give birth in a health facility, (4) have less complications of women at birth, and (5) have less complications and deaths of infants than those who did not receive the education .” 30

Research questions and hypotheses are crucial components to any type of research, whether quantitative or qualitative. These questions should be developed at the very beginning of the study. Excellent research questions lead to superior hypotheses, which, like a compass, set the direction of research, and can often determine the successful conduct of the study. Many research studies have floundered because the development of research questions and subsequent hypotheses was not given the thought and meticulous attention needed. The development of research questions and hypotheses is an iterative process based on extensive knowledge of the literature and insightful grasp of the knowledge gap. Focused, concise, and specific research questions provide a strong foundation for constructing hypotheses which serve as formal predictions about the research outcomes. Research questions and hypotheses are crucial elements of research that should not be overlooked. They should be carefully thought of and constructed when planning research. This avoids unethical studies and poor outcomes by defining well-founded objectives that determine the design, course, and outcome of the study.

Disclosure: The authors have no potential conflicts of interest to disclose.

Author Contributions:

• Conceptualization: Barroga E, Matanguihan GJ.
• Methodology: Barroga E, Matanguihan GJ.
• Writing - original draft: Barroga E, Matanguihan GJ.
• Writing - review & editing: Barroga E, Matanguihan GJ.

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Scientific Method Steps in Psychology Research

Steps, Uses, and Key Terms

Verywell / Theresa Chiechi

How do researchers investigate psychological phenomena? They utilize a process known as the scientific method to study different aspects of how people think and behave.

When conducting research, the scientific method steps to follow are:

• Observe what you want to investigate
• Ask a research question and make predictions
• Test the hypothesis and collect data
• Examine the results and draw conclusions
• Report and share the results 

This process not only allows scientists to investigate and understand different psychological phenomena but also provides researchers and others a way to share and discuss the results of their studies.

Generally, there are five main steps in the scientific method, although some may break down this process into six or seven steps. An additional step in the process can also include developing new research questions based on your findings.

What Is the Scientific Method?

What is the scientific method and how is it used in psychology?

The scientific method consists of five steps. It is essentially a step-by-step process that researchers can follow to determine if there is some type of relationship between two or more variables.

By knowing the steps of the scientific method, you can better understand the process researchers go through to arrive at conclusions about human behavior.

Scientific Method Steps

While research studies can vary, these are the basic steps that psychologists and scientists use when investigating human behavior.

The following are the scientific method steps:

Step 1. Make an Observation

Before a researcher can begin, they must choose a topic to study. Once an area of interest has been chosen, the researchers must then conduct a thorough review of the existing literature on the subject. This review will provide valuable information about what has already been learned about the topic and what questions remain to be answered.

A literature review might involve looking at a considerable amount of written material from both books and academic journals dating back decades.

The relevant information collected by the researcher will be presented in the introduction section of the final published study results. This background material will also help the researcher with the first major step in conducting a psychology study: formulating a hypothesis.

Step 2. Ask a Question

Once a researcher has observed something and gained some background information on the topic, the next step is to ask a question. The researcher will form a hypothesis, which is an educated guess about the relationship between two or more variables

For example, a researcher might ask a question about the relationship between sleep and academic performance: Do students who get more sleep perform better on tests at school?

In order to formulate a good hypothesis, it is important to think about different questions you might have about a particular topic.

You should also consider how you could investigate the causes. Falsifiability is an important part of any valid hypothesis. In other words, if a hypothesis was false, there needs to be a way for scientists to demonstrate that it is false.

Step 3. Test Your Hypothesis and Collect Data

Once you have a solid hypothesis, the next step of the scientific method is to put this hunch to the test by collecting data. The exact methods used to investigate a hypothesis depend on exactly what is being studied. There are two basic forms of research that a psychologist might utilize: descriptive research or experimental research.

Descriptive research is typically used when it would be difficult or even impossible to manipulate the variables in question. Examples of descriptive research include case studies, naturalistic observation , and correlation studies. Phone surveys that are often used by marketers are one example of descriptive research.

Correlational studies are quite common in psychology research. While they do not allow researchers to determine cause-and-effect, they do make it possible to spot relationships between different variables and to measure the strength of those relationships. 

Experimental research is used to explore cause-and-effect relationships between two or more variables. This type of research involves systematically manipulating an independent variable and then measuring the effect that it has on a defined dependent variable .

One of the major advantages of this method is that it allows researchers to actually determine if changes in one variable actually cause changes in another.

While psychology experiments are often quite complex, a simple experiment is fairly basic but does allow researchers to determine cause-and-effect relationships between variables. Most simple experiments use a control group (those who do not receive the treatment) and an experimental group (those who do receive the treatment).

Step 4. Examine the Results and Draw Conclusions

Once a researcher has designed the study and collected the data, it is time to examine this information and draw conclusions about what has been found.  Using statistics , researchers can summarize the data, analyze the results, and draw conclusions based on this evidence.

So how does a researcher decide what the results of a study mean? Not only can statistical analysis support (or refute) the researcher’s hypothesis; it can also be used to determine if the findings are statistically significant.

When results are said to be statistically significant, it means that it is unlikely that these results are due to chance.

Based on these observations, researchers must then determine what the results mean. In some cases, an experiment will support a hypothesis, but in other cases, it will fail to support the hypothesis.

So what happens if the results of a psychology experiment do not support the researcher's hypothesis? Does this mean that the study was worthless?

Just because the findings fail to support the hypothesis does not mean that the research is not useful or informative. In fact, such research plays an important role in helping scientists develop new questions and hypotheses to explore in the future.

After conclusions have been drawn, the next step is to share the results with the rest of the scientific community. This is an important part of the process because it contributes to the overall knowledge base and can help other scientists find new research avenues to explore.

Step 5. Report the Results

The final step in a psychology study is to report the findings. This is often done by writing up a description of the study and publishing the article in an academic or professional journal. The results of psychological studies can be seen in peer-reviewed journals such as  Psychological Bulletin , the  Journal of Social Psychology ,  Developmental Psychology , and many others.

The structure of a journal article follows a specified format that has been outlined by the  American Psychological Association (APA) . In these articles, researchers:

• Provide a brief history and background on previous research
• Present their hypothesis
• Identify who participated in the study and how they were selected
• Provide operational definitions for each variable
• Describe the measures and procedures that were used to collect data
• Explain how the information collected was analyzed
• Discuss what the results mean

Why is such a detailed record of a psychological study so important? By clearly explaining the steps and procedures used throughout the study, other researchers can then replicate the results. The editorial process employed by academic and professional journals ensures that each article that is submitted undergoes a thorough peer review, which helps ensure that the study is scientifically sound.

Once published, the study becomes another piece of the existing puzzle of our knowledge base on that topic.

Before you begin exploring the scientific method steps, here's a review of some key terms and definitions that you should be familiar with:

• Falsifiable : The variables can be measured so that if a hypothesis is false, it can be proven false
• Hypothesis : An educated guess about the possible relationship between two or more variables
• Variable : A factor or element that can change in observable and measurable ways
• Operational definition : A full description of exactly how variables are defined, how they will be manipulated, and how they will be measured

Uses for the Scientific Method

The  goals of psychological studies  are to describe, explain, predict and perhaps influence mental processes or behaviors. In order to do this, psychologists utilize the scientific method to conduct psychological research. The scientific method is a set of principles and procedures that are used by researchers to develop questions, collect data, and reach conclusions.

Goals of Scientific Research in Psychology

Researchers seek not only to describe behaviors and explain why these behaviors occur; they also strive to create research that can be used to predict and even change human behavior.

Psychologists and other social scientists regularly propose explanations for human behavior. On a more informal level, people make judgments about the intentions, motivations , and actions of others on a daily basis.

While the everyday judgments we make about human behavior are subjective and anecdotal, researchers use the scientific method to study psychology in an objective and systematic way. The results of these studies are often reported in popular media, which leads many to wonder just how or why researchers arrived at the conclusions they did.

Examples of the Scientific Method

Now that you're familiar with the scientific method steps, it's useful to see how each step could work with a real-life example.

Say, for instance, that researchers set out to discover what the relationship is between psychotherapy and anxiety .

• Step 1. Make an observation : The researchers choose to focus their study on adults ages 25 to 40 with generalized anxiety disorder.
• Step 2. Ask a question : The question they want to answer in their study is: Do weekly psychotherapy sessions reduce symptoms in adults ages 25 to 40 with generalized anxiety disorder?
• Step 3. Test your hypothesis : Researchers collect data on participants' anxiety symptoms . They work with therapists to create a consistent program that all participants undergo. Group 1 may attend therapy once per week, whereas group 2 does not attend therapy.
• Step 4. Examine the results : Participants record their symptoms and any changes over a period of three months. After this period, people in group 1 report significant improvements in their anxiety symptoms, whereas those in group 2 report no significant changes.
• Step 5. Report the results : Researchers write a report that includes their hypothesis, information on participants, variables, procedure, and conclusions drawn from the study. In this case, they say that "Weekly therapy sessions are shown to reduce anxiety symptoms in adults ages 25 to 40."

Of course, there are many details that go into planning and executing a study such as this. But this general outline gives you an idea of how an idea is formulated and tested, and how researchers arrive at results using the scientific method.

Erol A. How to conduct scientific research ? Noro Psikiyatr Ars . 2017;54(2):97-98. doi:10.5152/npa.2017.0120102

University of Minnesota. Psychologists use the scientific method to guide their research .

Shaughnessy, JJ, Zechmeister, EB, & Zechmeister, JS. Research Methods In Psychology . New York: McGraw Hill Education; 2015.

By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

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• Knowledge Base
• Starting the research process
• 10 Research Question Examples to Guide Your Research Project

10 Research Question Examples to Guide your Research Project

Published on October 30, 2022 by Shona McCombes . Revised on October 19, 2023.

The research question is one of the most important parts of your research paper , thesis or dissertation . It’s important to spend some time assessing and refining your question before you get started.

The exact form of your question will depend on a few things, such as the length of your project, the type of research you’re conducting, the topic , and the research problem . However, all research questions should be focused, specific, and relevant to a timely social or scholarly issue.

Once you’ve read our guide on how to write a research question , you can use these examples to craft your own.

Note that the design of your research question can depend on what method you are pursuing. Here are a few options for qualitative, quantitative, and statistical research questions.

Other interesting articles

If you want to know more about the research process , methodology , research bias , or statistics , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

Methodology

• Sampling methods
• Simple random sampling
• Stratified sampling
• Cluster sampling
• Likert scales
• Reproducibility

 Statistics

• Null hypothesis
• Statistical power
• Probability distribution
• Effect size
• Poisson distribution

Research bias

• Optimism bias
• Cognitive bias
• Implicit bias
• Hawthorne effect
• Anchoring bias
• Explicit bias

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Biased: when someone presents only one viewpoint. Biased articles do not give all the facts and often mislead the reader.

Conclusion: what a person decides based on information they get through research including experiments.

Method: following a certain set of steps to make something, or find an answer to a question. Like baking a pie or fixing the tire on a bicycle.

Research: looking for answers to questions using tools like the scientific method.

What is the Scientific Method?

If you have ever seen something going on and wondered why or how it happened, you have started down the road to discovery. If you continue your journey, you are likely to guess at some of your own answers for your question. Even further along the road you might think of ways to find out if your answers are correct. At this point, whether you know it or not, you are following a path that scientists call the scientific method. If you do some experiments to see if your answer is correct and write down what you learn in a report, you have pretty much completed everything a scientist might do in a laboratory or out in the field when doing research. In fact, the scientific method works well for many things that don’t usually seem so scientific.

The Flashlight Mystery...

Like a crime detective, you can use the elements of the scientific method to find the answer to everyday problems. For example you pick up a flashlight and turn it on, but the light does not work. You have observed that the light does not work. You ask the question, Why doesn't it work? With what you already know about flashlights, you might guess (hypothesize) that the batteries are dead. You say to yourself, if I buy new batteries and replace the old ones in the flashlight, the light should work. To test this prediction you replace the old batteries with new ones from the store. You click the switch on. Does the flashlight work? No?

What else could be the answer? You go back and hypothesize that it might be a broken light bulb. Your new prediction is if you replace the broken light bulb the flashlight will work. It’s time to go back to the store and buy a new light bulb. Now you test this new hypothesis and prediction by replacing the bulb in the flashlight. You flip the switch again. The flashlight lights up. Success!

If this were a scientific project, you would also have written down the results of your tests and a conclusion of your experiments. The results of only the light bulb hypothesis stood up to the test, and we had to reject the battery hypothesis. You would also communicate what you learned to others with a published report, article, or scientific paper.

More to the Mystery...

Not all questions can be answered with only two experiments. It can often take a lot more work and tests to find an answer. Even when you find an answer it may not always be the only answer to the question. This is one reason that different scientists will work on the same question and do their own experiments.

In our flashlight example, you might never get the light to turn on. This probably means you haven’t made enough different guesses (hypotheses) to test the problem. Were the new batteries in the right way? Was the switch rusty, or maybe a wire is broken. Think of all the possible guesses you could test.

No matter what the question, you can use the scientific method to guide you towards an answer. Even those questions that do not seem to be scientific can be solved using this process. Like with the flashlight, you might need to repeat several of the elements of the scientific method to find an answer. No matter how complex the diagram, the scientific method will include the following pieces in order to be complete.

The elements of the scientific method can be used by anyone to help answer questions. Even though these elements can be used in an ordered manner, they do not have to follow the same order. It is better to think of the scientific method as fluid process that can take different paths depending on the situation. Just be sure to incorporate all of the elements when seeking unbiased answers. You may also need to go back a few steps (or a few times) to test several different hypotheses before you come to a conclusion. Click on the image to see other versions of the scientific method. 

• Observation – seeing, hearing, touching…
• Asking a question – why or how?
• Hypothesis – a fancy name for an educated guess about what causes something to happen.
• Prediction – what you think will happen if…
• Testing – this is where you get to experiment and be creative.
• Conclusion – decide how your test results relate to your predictions.
• Communicate – share your results so others can learn from your work.

Other Parts of the Scientific Method…

Now that you have an idea of how the scientific method works there are a few other things to learn so that you will be able test out your new skills and test your hypotheses.

• Control - A group that is similar to other groups but is left alone so that it can be compared to see what happened to the other groups that are tested.
• Data - the numbers and measurements you get from the test in a scientific experiment.
• Independent variable - a variable that you change as part of your experiment. It is important to only change one independent variable for each experiment. 
• Dependent variable - a variable that changes when the independent variable is changed.
• Controlled Variable - these are variables that you never change in your experiment.

Practicing Observations and Wondering How and Why...

It is really hard not to notice things around us and wonder about them. This is how the scientific method begins, by observing and wondering why and how. Why do leaves on trees in many parts of the world turn from green to red, orange, or yellow and fall to the ground when winter comes? How does a spider move around their web without getting stuck like its victims? Both of these questions start with observing something and asking questions. The next time you see something and ask yourself, “I wonder why that does that, or how can it do that?” try out your new detective skills, and see what answer you can find. 

Try Out Your Detective Skills

Now that you have the basics of the scientific method, why not test your skills? The Science Detectives Training Room will test your problem solving ability. Step inside and see if you can escape the room. While you are there, look around and see what other interesting things might be waiting. We think you find this game a great way to learn the scientific method. In fact, we bet you will discover that you already use the scientific method and didn't even know it.

After you've learned the basics of being a detective, practice those skills in The Case of the Mystery Images . While you are there, pay attention to what's around you as you figure out just what is happening in the mystery photos that surround you.

Ready for your next challenge? Try Science Detectives: Case of the Mystery Images for even more mysteries to solve. Take your scientific abilities one step further by making observations and formulating hypothesis about the mysterious images you find within.

Acknowledgements:  

We thank John Alcock for his feedback and suggestions on this article.

Science Detectives - Mystery Room Escape was produced in partnership with the Arizona Science Education Collaborative (ASEC) and funded by ASU Women & Philanthropy.

Flashlight image via Wikimedia Commons - The Oxygen Team

Read more about: Using the Scientific Method to Solve Mysteries

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• Article: Using the Scientific Method to Solve Mysteries
• Author(s): CJ Kazilek and David Pearson
• Publisher: Arizona State University School of Life Sciences Ask A Biologist
• Site name: ASU - Ask A Biologist
• Date published: October 8, 2009
• Date accessed: August 8, 2024
• Link: https://askabiologist.asu.edu/explore/scientific-method

CJ Kazilek and David Pearson. (2009, October 08). Using the Scientific Method to Solve Mysteries . ASU - Ask A Biologist. Retrieved August 8, 2024 from https://askabiologist.asu.edu/explore/scientific-method

Chicago Manual of Style

CJ Kazilek and David Pearson. "Using the Scientific Method to Solve Mysteries ". ASU - Ask A Biologist. 08 October, 2009. https://askabiologist.asu.edu/explore/scientific-method

MLA 2017 Style

CJ Kazilek and David Pearson. "Using the Scientific Method to Solve Mysteries ". ASU - Ask A Biologist. 08 Oct 2009. ASU - Ask A Biologist, Web. 8 Aug 2024. https://askabiologist.asu.edu/explore/scientific-method

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The Scientific Method

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Scientific Method | Modules

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One of the most important things for new students to remember when they are trying to think like a scientist is to utilize the scientific method . This is a straightforward path of analysis that can help us solve tough problems or answer hard questions with a reliable and repeatable set-up. The scientific method helps scientists stay focused on their problem, gather various kinds of evidence, evaluate or analyze the evidence, and point to a possible solution. It also helps other scientists replicate or duplicate past studies to confirm or refute the analysis performed or the stated results.

The scientific method begins with observations and questions, which leads to research, hypotheses, and predictions. Once scientists have completed some observations and research, they often have specific questions (or hypotheses) they wish to test with experiments, models, or additional analysis (e.g., statistical). These tests or experiments are then completed, leading scientists to a final result or conclusion. Not all scientists will arrive at the same conclusion, even if they start from the same evidence and/or data, and the variety of conclusions can create some excellent discussions or debates.

Please explore the sections below on the importance and the use of the scientific method.

Learning Outcomes

After completing this online module, you should be able to:

• List and describe the general steps of the scientific method,
• Apply the scientific method critically in your academic work,
• Use the scientific method to ask critical and logical questions, and
• Design appropriate experiments.

The Scientific Method in a Nutshell

This video outlines and describes the inter-connections and flow of the Scientific Method within science, utilizing global climate change as our example, as it combines all the various science disciplines: Earth, Chemistry, Physics, and Biology. 

Introduction

It can be challenging to understand all the Earth's processes and inter-workings because our planet is a dynamic body with many internal parts and a complex formation history. Throughout time, Earth has been experiencing continuous change, and this will continue into the foreseeable future. Occasionally, the changes are rapid and violent (e.g., earthquakes and volcanic eruptions); other times, they are small and slow (e.g., erosion and weathering). Scales of size, space, and time can vary greatly between the various phenomena found on our planet, further complicated by the addition of people and infrastructure.

A great deal of Earth Science and Geology is based on observing the Earth throughout time, and the changes and modifications it undergoes, and often requires expertise from many scientific and mathematic disciplines. It is the study of how the natural world works, how our environment affects us, and how we, in turn, affect the natural environment around us.

Earth and Environmental Science is part of the broader endeavor of SCIENCE, the systematic process for learning and testing our understanding of the world around us. The term SCIENCE also refers to the body of knowledge that arises from problem identification, observations, testing, and the discovery of new and exciting things. Earth and Environmental Science is an interdisciplinary field of study, incorporating concepts and techniques from other realms of science and technology.

Here is a quote from the late Carl Sagan: 

“We've arranged a global civilization in which the most crucial elements – transportation, communications, and all other industries; agriculture, medicine, education, entertainment, protecting the environment; and even the key democratic institution of voting – profoundly depend on science and technology.” Sagan, C. (1997). The demon-haunted world: science as a candle in the dark. London: Headline.

Scientific ideas, methods, and knowledge evolve as new information and linkages are discovered, constantly pushing the discipline forward into new frontiers, and helping us avoid the mistakes of the past. Solutions to these new and old problems must be both global in scope, and sustainable over time, in order to be effective.

As we saw in the previous video, the scientific method involves several important and iterative steps:

Description © Course Author(s) and University of Waterloo, Macrostore/iStock/Getty Images (observations, questions, predictions, test and experiment, results and conclusions icon), fleaz/iStock/Getty Images (research and hypothesis icons)

Observations

All advances and studies in science begin with an observation of an interesting phenomenon or process that a scientist wishes to explain or understand more fully. Observations set the scientific method in motion and continue to be an important part of the entire procedure.

stockstudioX/E+/Getty Images

All scientists are naturally curious about the world around them, how it works, and why we observe what we do. Why are certain plants or animals more or less common than at previous times in Earth’s history? Is climate change increasing storms and flooding? What causes the explosive outbreak of toxic algae in Lake Erie each summer? These are all examples of questions Earth and Environmental Scientists ask and attempt to answer during their research.

Imgorthand/E+/Getty Images

As scientists begin to look at a research or scientific problem, they start by identifying the issue, observing the complexity or inter-connections of the issue, and then researching and explaining how these individual processes work. This starts to build the knowledge base a scientist needs in order to attempt to answer or solve a complex real world problem. For example, in order to discover if climate change is increasing the intensity of storms and flooding, research on effects on precipitation factors would need to be undertaken first.

wundervisuals/E+/Getty Images

Before completing any experiment, scientists attempt to answer their own question(s) by devising explanations or statements which can be tested. A hypothesis is an educated guess to explain a phenomenon or what might happen in an experiment. For example, a fresh water scientist looking at algae growth in Lake Erie might state a hypothesis such as:

"Increased use of agriculture fertilizer in overland flow and runoff has increased the volume of nutrients reaching Lake Erie, causing an increase in the development and life cycle of toxic algae."

kirin_photo/E+/Getty Images

INTERESTING FACT:

LEARNING CHECKPOINT 1

Try to answer some of these simple multiple choice questions based on the reading above.

Select which of the following statement(s) are observations:

A hypothesis is ________.

Scientists use hypotheses and observations to make a prediction which they can then test for accuracy. These predictions are statements which can be directly tested. In the previous example of algae growth in Lake Erie, a scientist could predict:

"The addition of nutrients from increased fertilizer runoff will directly increase the amount of algae found in a fresh water body."

This is something which can be directly tested in a controlled experiment to gain more knowledge on the process in question.

FatCamera/E+/Getty Images

Test and Experiment

Observations, hypotheses, and predictions are all assessed during the experimental phase of the scientific method. An experiment is specifically designed to test a hypothesis or prediction by manipulating a set of variables, and quantifying some answer or result after completion. Depending on the results, the experiment may support (or not) the original observations and hypotheses. Experiments can be either:

• a controlled or manipulative experiment (e.g. testing vegetation growth in a greenhouse), or
• a natural uncontrolled experiment (e.g. testing vegetation growth in an open field).

It is always important for the scientist to accurately describe the experiment and how it is set up and run, so that other scientists can attempt to replicate the results for future studies. An experiment will return information in the form of one (or both) types of data: qualitative and quantitative. Qualitative data is often found in more social studies, but in general is data which cannot be easily expressed in numerical or statistical values (e.g., personal interviews, surveys, descriptive observations, etc.). Quantitative data is data which can be expressed with numerical or statistical values (e.g., temperature, speed, volume, mass, etc.).

Results and Conclusions

Once all experiments have been completed, the scientist can logically share their results and conclusions. This is often the form of a scientific research paper, published in an academic journal (e.g. Science, Nature, etc.) which takes the reader through the entire scientific method from start to finish. Experiments with results that support the hypotheses and observations can be explained and discussed, to show the inter-connections. However, experiments which fail to support a hypothesis are just as valid and useful, as it may force the scientist to rethink their understanding, change their hypothesis, and re-do the scientific method for a better result.

Fail to reject hypothesis. Test a new  prediction . 

Reject hypothesis. Test a new  hypothesis . 

Steve Debenport/E+/Getty Images

LEARNING CHECKPOINT 2

An experiment ________.

You are interested in studying the impact of fertilizer runoff into the environment and decide to conduct a laboratory experiment by observing fertilizer application in a greenhouse. This is an example of a_________.

Take it with You

Here are some questions you can take with you to think about the applications of the scientific method:

• What is the typical sequence of steps in the scientific method, using any real-world example? What is the difference between a manipulative experiment and a natural experiment? Can you provide examples of both?
• What has to happen to a scientist’s research before it is publishable? Why is this process important?

Additional Resources

To enhance your understanding of the scientific method, please have a look at these resources:

• The Teacher’s Pet:  The scientific method  (YouTube, 4:05)
• Khan Academy:  The scientific method  (YouTube, 11:48)
• Withgott, J.; Laposata, M.; Murck, B. (2017). Environment: the science behind the stories. (Third Canadian edition). (Chapters 1 and 2). New Jersey, USA: Pearson Education, Inc. 

This module has been developed by Dr. Keith Delaney in cooperation with the University of Waterloo Centre for Extended Learning, the Faculty of Science, and the Earth and Environmental Sciences department. 

Image Citations

• Banner image courtesy of Man As Thep/iStock/Getty Images.
• Picture frames courtesy of BoxerX/iStock/Getty Images.
• Brain with bulbs courtesy of Polar_lights/iStock/Getty Images.
• Stack of books courtesy of Sonya_illustration/iStock/Getty Images.

Scientific Method: What it is, How to Use It: Scientific Method

• Scientific Method
• Step 1: Question
• Step 2: Research
• Step 3: Hypothesis
• Step 4: Experiment
• Step 5: Data
• Step 6: Conclusion

What is the Scientific Method?

The scientific method  is a standardized way of making observations, gathering data, forming theories, testing predictions, and interpreting results.   Does this mean all scientists follow this  exact  process? No. Some areas of science can be more easily tested than others.

For example, scientists studying how stars change as they age or how dinosaurs digested their food cannot fast-forward a star's life by a million years or run medical exams on feeding dinosaurs to test their hypotheses. When direct experimentation is not possible, scientists modify the scientific method. In fact, there are probably as many versions of the scientific method as there are scientists!

But even when modified, the goal remains the same:  to discover cause and effect relationships by asking questions, carefully gathering and examining the evidence, and seeing if all the available information can be combined in to a logical answer.

The Four Factors of Conducting Good Scientific Research

• Replication
• Falsifiable
• Parsimonious

1. Research must be  Replicable,  meaning that other researchers must be able to repeat the study and get the same results. This is why in a scientific study, researchers take the time not only to describe their results but also the methods they used to achieve their results. 

As scientists do their research and make sure that it's replicable, they'll develop a theory and translate that theory into a hypothesis.  A  Hypothesis  is a testable prediction of what will happen given a certain set of conditions. A good theory must do two things: organize many observations in a logical way and allow researchers to come up with clear predictions to check the theory.

A good theory or hypothesis also must be  Falsifiable , which means that it must be stated in a way that makes it possible to reject it. In other words, we have to be able to prove a theory or hypothesis wrong.

Theories and hypotheses need to be falsifiable because otherwise research will present confirmation bias. Researchers who display  Confirmation Bias  look for and accept evidence that supports what they want to believe and ignore or reject evidence that refutes their beliefs.

Falsifiability doesn’t mean that there are currently arguments against a theory, only that it is possible to imagine some kind of argument which would invalidate it. Falsifiability says nothing about an argument's inherent validity or correctness. It is only the basic requirement of a theory which allows it to be considered scientific. An important note however, is that falsifiability is not simply any claim that has yet to be proven true. 

• Does Science Need Falsifiability? An article by Kate Becker in PBS's Nova explains the value and necessity of making scientific research falsifiable.

By stating hypotheses precisely, scientists ensure that they can replicate their own and others’ research. To make hypotheses more precise, researchers use operational definitions to define the variables they study.  Operational Definitions  state exactly how a variable will be measured.

Precision and accuracy are two ways that scientists think about error.  Accuracy  refers to how close a measurement is to the true or accepted value. Precision refers to how close measurements of the same item are to each other. Precision  is independent of accuracy which means it is possible to be very precise but not very accurate , and it is also possible to be accurate without being precise. The best quality scientific observations are both accurate and precise.

The easiest way to illustrate the difference between precision and accuracy is with the analogy of a dartboard. 

• In example A, the darts are neither close to the bulls-eye, nor close to each other, meaning there is neither accuracy, nor precision. 
• In example B, all of the darts land very close together, but far from the bulls-eye. There is precision, but not accuracy  
• In example C, the darts are all about an equal distance from and spaced equally around the bulls-eye there is accuracy because the average of the darts would be in the bulls-eye. This represents data that is accurate, but not precise. 
• In example D, the darts land close to the bulls-eye and close together.  Meaning there is both accuracy and precision.

Parsimonious  means “being thrifty or stingy.” A person who values parsimony will apply the thriftiest or most logically economical explanation for a set of phenomena.

The  Principle Of Parsimony , also called  Occam’s Razor , maintains that researchers should apply the simplest explanation possible to any set of observations. For instance, scientists try to explain results by using well-accepted theories instead of elaborate new hypotheses. Parsimony prevents researchers from inventing and pursuing outlandish theories.

What Parsimony means in practice is we should go with the weight of the evidence available to us. This will probably seem very obvious, but in practice it is essential that we have a philosophically justified method of choosing between explanations of our data. After all, when there is good evidence to support one idea and only slightly less good evidence to support another – can you really chose between them? Well, yes. You *MUST* take number 1.

Scientific Method (Infographic)

Scientific Method (Video)

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Faculty Resource Center Biochemistry Bioengineering Cancer Research Developmental Biology Engineering Environment Immunology and Infection Neuroscience JoVE Journal JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments JoVE Chrome Extension Environmental Sciences Pharmacology JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual JoVE Business Videos Mapped to your Course High Schools Videos Mapped to Your Course Scientific Method Instructor prep, student protocol. The scientific method is a framework of techniques and questions that scientists use to investigate phenomena with the aim of making scientific discoveries simple and reproducible. It's been loosely observed by experimenters going as far back as the 4th century BC, but the first properly formalized scientific method was coined during the European Renaissance. Here individuals at the forefront of science like Francis Bacon, Galileo, and Isaac Newton started putting into routine practice the rules that we use to carry out experiments today. Typically, the first step of the scientific method is to formulate a question, usually after observation of a phenomenon. For example, say you have been raising caterpillars and have noticed that some take longer than others to get to pupation. And you wonder, do the caterpillars develop at different rates depending on the temperature? This is where the second part of the scientific method comes in, the hypothesis. A hypothesis is an uncertain explanation as to why we observe what we observe, and there are two main types. The first is the experimental or alternative hypothesis, and it implies that there will be a relationship between the variables being investigated, the temperature and caterpillar development, in this case. So, our experimental hypothesis could be that the caterpillars will take longer to go from egg to pupation if they're raised at colder temperatures. Crucially, a good hypothesis will be testable. For our caterpillars, we can change the temperature, and record the time it takes for them to go from egg to pupa, and falsifiable. So, if it takes around the same time for the caterpillars to develop no matter what the temperature, then we can accept that the hypothesis was likely false. The second type of hypothesis is the null hypothesis. This typically speculates that there won't be any observed significant change or difference during the experiment. In our caterpillar example, we would state that the caterpillars will develop at the same rate in each temperature condition. Once we have our hypotheses, the third step of the scientific method covers experimentation and data collection. In a typical experiment, there will be two types of variables. The independent variable is something directly manipulated by the experimenter. So, with our caterpillars, we are altering the independent variable when we change the temperature. The dependent variable, also known as the response variable, should be affected by the state of the independent variable. So, when we expose our caterpillars to different temperatures, then the response, the dependent variable, is the rate at which they develop. There are also two main types of data that could be collected to support or falsify the hypotheses. The first is qualitative data, which typically refers to descriptive observations made with the senses, seeing, touching, hearing, smelling, or even tasting. In our experiment, we might record that the caterpillars seem to move around and eat a lot in the normal temperature condition, compared to the cooler one. In contrast to qualitative data, quantitative data can be measured and written down as numbers. So, when we count the number of hours it takes the caterpillar from hatching to finally pupating, this gives us a definite figure. Where possible, it's almost important to have a control condition in any experiment where we manipulate the independent variables. In our caterpillar experiment, we can grow the caterpillars at a set standard room temperature of 21 degrees as a control, because this demonstrates what happens when the caterpillars develop under normal conditions in comparison to experimental settings. In observational experiments, a control may not be needed or even possible. For example, imagine our caterpillars are now grown up butterflies, feeding on nectar in a flower garden. In our experimental hypothesis, we suggest that they prefer to feed from the big pink flowers, while our null hypothesis suggests they have no preference and will visit the flowers at random. In this case, simply observing and recording the number of times the butterflies visit each flower type will provide enough data to confirm or reject our hypotheses without needing manipulation of any variables or the need for a control. Once the data have been collected, the next step is to figure out what it all means. Scientists will compare the predictions of their two hypotheses to figure out if they can reject the null hypothesis. This can be done by comparing the values of the dependent variable in the control versus the experimental conditions. If they are not equal, the null hypothesis can be rejected. If the data collected supports a hypothesis, like the caterpillars did take significantly more hours to go from egg to pupa when kept at the cooler climate, then this gives the experimental hypothesis more credibility, but critically it does not indicate that the hypothesis is definitely true, because future experiments may reveal new information. The final part of the scientific method is where we draw conclusions, and discuss what our findings might mean. Here, scientists might refer to other experiments or other literature to put their findings into context, and come up with explanations of why the results showed what they did. For example, the conclusion could be that the caterpillars like to grow at temperatures closest to their natural habitat. This may, in turn, spiral new questions, like do other species pupate at different rates at different temperatures, too? This may inspire new experiments, which we can test using, you guessed it, the scientific method. The scientific method is used to solve problems and explain phenomena. The development of the scientific method coincided with changes in philosophy underpinning scientific discovery, radically transforming the views of society about nature. During the European Renaissance, individuals such as Francis Bacon, Galileo, and Isaac Newton formalized the concept of the scientific method and put it into practice. Although the scientific method has been revised since its early conceptions, much of the framework and philosophy remains in practice today. Step 1: The Observation and Question Prior to investigation, a scientist must define the question to be addressed. This crucial first step in the scientific process involves observing some natural phenomena of interest. This observation should then lead to a number of questions about the phenomena. This stage frequently requires background research necessary to understand the subject matter and past work on similar ideas. Reviewing and evaluating previous research allows scientists to refine their questions to more accurately address gaps in scientific knowledge. Defining a research question and understanding relevant prior research will influence how the scientific method is applied, making it an important first step in the research process. An everyday example: You are trying to get to school or work and your car won’t start. The thought process that most people go through in that situation clearly mirrors the official scientific method (after you are finished getting upset). First, you make an observation: my car won’t start! The question that follows: why isn’t it working? Step 2: The Hypothesis The next step is making a hypothesis, based on prior knowledge. A hypothesis is an “uncertain explanation” or an unproven conjecture that seeks to explain some phenomenon based on knowledge obtained while executing subsequent experiments or observations. Generally, scientists develop multiple hypotheses to address their questions and test them systematically. All hypotheses must meet certain criteria for the scientific process to work. First, a hypothesis must be testable and falsifiable. This aspect of the hypothesis is critical and of much greater importance than the hypothesis being correct. A testable hypothesis is one that generates testable predictions, addressed through observations or experiments. A falsifiable hypothesis is one that, through observation of conflicting outcomes, can be proven wrong. This allows investigators to gain more confidence over time, not by accumulating evidence showing that a hypothesis is correct, but rather by showing that situations that could establish its falsity do not occur. Hypotheses come in two forms: null hypotheses and alternative hypotheses. The null hypothesis is tested against the alternative hypothesis and reflects that there will be no observed change in the experiment. The alternative hypothesis is generally the one described in the previous two paragraphs, also referred to as the experimental hypothesis. The alternative hypothesis is the predicted outcome of the experiment. If the null hypothesis is rejected, then this builds evidence for the alternative hypothesis. An everyday example: Maybe it is freezing outside and therefore it is fairly likely that your car battery is dead. Maybe you know you were low on gas the night before and therefore it is likely that the tank is empty. Step 3: Experimentation and Data Collection Either way, the next step is to make more observations or to conduct experiments leading to conclusions. Following the formulation of hypotheses, scientists plan and conduct experiments to test their hypotheses. These experiments provide data that will either support or falsify the hypothesis. Data can be collected from quantitative or qualitative observations. Qualitative information refers to observations that can be made simply using one's senses, be that through sight, sound, taste, smell, or touch. In contrast, quantitative observations are ones in which precise measurements of some type are used to investigate one's hypothesis. An experiment is a procedure designed to determine whether observations of the real world agree with or refute the derived predictions in the hypothesis. If evidence from an experiment supports a hypothesis, that gives the hypothesis more credibility. This does not indicate that the hypothesis is true, as future experiments may reveal new information about the original hypothesis. Experimental design is another critical step in the scientific method and can have a great effect on the results and conclusions one draws from an experiment. Careful thought and time should be devoted to experimental design and minimizing possible errors. The experiment should be designed so that every variable or factor that could influence the outcome of the experiment be under control of the researcher. Two types of variables are used to describe the conditions in an experiment: the independent and the dependent, or response, variable. The independent variable is directly manipulated or controlled by the scientist and is generally what one predicts will affect the dependent variable. The dependent, or response, variable thus depends on the value of the independent variable. Experiments are generally designed so that one specific factor is manipulated in the experiment in order to illuminate cause and effect relationships. An everyday example: Does the car still have all of its parts? Is this the right key? What does the gas gauge say? Does a jump start help? Another important aspect in experimental design is the role of the control treatment, which represents a non-manipulated treatment condition. The control treatment is kept in the same conditions as the experimental treatment, but the experimental manipulation is not applied to the control. For example, if a researcher were testing the effects of soil salinity on plant growth, the soil in the control treatment would have no added salt. The control provides a baseline of “normal” conditions with which to compare the experimental treatments. Experimental design should also incorporate replicates of each treatment. Repeatability of experimental results is an important part of the scientific method that ensures the validity and accuracy of data. It is quite difficult to control all aspects of an experiment so there is inherent variation in results that cannot be controlled for even under the most carefully designed and controlled experiments. Having replicates enables an investigator to estimate this inherent variation in results. Precise recording and measurement of data is also of great importance for ensuring the accuracy of results and the conclusions one draws from the results. Step 4: Results and Data Analysis The next step in the scientific method involves determining what the results from the experiment mean. Scientists compare the predictions of their null hypothesis to that of their alternative hypothesis to determine if they are able to reject the null hypothesis. Rejecting the null hypothesis means that there is a significant probability that values of the dependent variable in the control versus experimental treatments are not equal to each other. If significant differences exist, then one can reject the null hypothesis and accept the alternative hypothesis. Conversely, the investigator may fail to reject the null hypothesis, meaning the treatment has no effect on the results. Before scientists can make any claims about their null hypothesis from their experimental data or observations, statistical tests are required to ensure the validity of the data and further interpretation of the data. Statistical tests allow researchers to determine if there are genuine differences between the control and experimental treatments. From there, they can create figures and tables to illustrate their findings. Step 5: Conclusions The last portion of the scientific method involves providing explanations of the results and the conclusions that can be logically drawn from the results. Generally, this step of the scientific process also requires one to revisit scientific literature and compare their results with other experiments or observations on related topics. This allows researchers to put their experiment in a more general context and elaborate on the significance of particular results. Additionally, it allows them to explain how their work fits into a larger context in their discipline. The scientific process does not stop here! The scientific process works through time as knowledge on topics in science accumulate and drive our understanding of particular mechanisms or processes explaining natural phenomena. If we fail to reject our null hypothesis, then it becomes necessary to revisit the initial stages of the scientific method and try to reformulate our questions and understand why an anticipated result was not attained. Application of the Scientific Method The only difference between the use of this method in every-day life and in the laboratory is that scientists carefully document their work, from observation to hypothesis to experiment, and finally conclusions and peer review. In addition, unlike problem solving outside the lab, the scientific method in the lab includes controlled conditions and variables. Let’s investigate the scientific method using an example from the lab. It is known that plant growth is affected by microbes, such as bacteria and fungi, living in their soil. It is possible to figure out what microbes have which effects by potting plants in completely sterile soil, then adding in microbes one at a time, or in different combinations and measuring the growth of the plant. Now let’s fit this into the terms used to describe the scientific method: Observation and Question : There are microbes in the soil…do these affect plant growth? HYPOTHESES: Experimental: One particular microbe of interest will cause the plants to grow more slowly. Null: The presence or absence of microbes will have no effect on plant growth Experiment : set up groups of plants in 1) sterile soil, 2) soil with the microbe added in, and 3) natural soil. Measure the growth of the plants over time, using a ruler. Conclusion : if the plants in group 2 grow more slowly than the other two, the hypothesis is supported. This needs to be backed up with statistical analysis from many plants to be considered significant. An experiment like this is not legitimate with just one plant per group. Group 1 is a control which shows the plants can grow in the sterile soil. Group 3 is a control that shows the plants can grow under normal conditions. Group 2 is the experimental group. It would be possible to add different amounts of the microbe, or different microbes, to introduce more variables. The main point is that the researcher has something to which to compare the experimental group- the control group. If the experiment included only group 2 and the researcher determined that the plants “looked sick,” that would be a matter of opinion. The only way to make that observation scientific is to have healthy plants to measure. The type or amount of microbe used is the independent variable , because the researcher has control over it. The size of the plant at the end of the experiment is the dependent or response variable because it is the result. Ultimately, work like this is published in scientific journals so that other researchers can read about the methods used and conclusions drawn. Publications like this are subject to peer-review, which means that an article won’t be published in a journal until other researchers have checked it out and agree it is well-done. As a community of scientists, general concepts are developed based on observed patterns in the experiments that individual scientists conduct. This results in the development of a scientific theory . This term means that there is a consensus among researchers that a particular concept or process exists. It is important to note that the word theory does not mean the same thing as hypothesis. Once scientists label a concept with this term, it is considered to be true, considering all currently available data. Of course, if a large body of experimentation demonstrates information to the contrary, theories can be modified. Choose Your Test Search Blogs By Category College Admissions AP and IB Exams GPA and Coursework The 6 Scientific Method Steps and How to Use Them General Education When you’re faced with a scientific problem, solving it can seem like an impossible prospect. There are so many possible explanations for everything we see and experience—how can you possibly make sense of them all? Science has a simple answer: the scientific method. The scientific method is a method of asking and answering questions about the world. These guiding principles give scientists a model to work through when trying to understand the world, but where did that model come from, and how does it work? In this article, we’ll define the scientific method, discuss its long history, and cover each of the scientific method steps in detail. What Is the Scientific Method? At its most basic, the scientific method is a procedure for conducting scientific experiments. It’s a set model that scientists in a variety of fields can follow, going from initial observation to conclusion in a loose but concrete format. The number of steps varies, but the process begins with an observation, progresses through an experiment, and concludes with analysis and sharing data. One of the most important pieces to the scientific method is skepticism —the goal is to find truth, not to confirm a particular thought. That requires reevaluation and repeated experimentation, as well as examining your thinking through rigorous study. There are in fact multiple scientific methods, as the basic structure can be easily modified.  The one we typically learn about in school is the basic method, based in logic and problem solving, typically used in “hard” science fields like biology, chemistry, and physics. It may vary in other fields, such as psychology, but the basic premise of making observations, testing, and continuing to improve a theory from the results remain the same. The History of the Scientific Method The scientific method as we know it today is based on thousands of years of scientific study. Its development goes all the way back to ancient Mesopotamia, Greece, and India. The Ancient World In ancient Greece, Aristotle devised an inductive-deductive process , which weighs broad generalizations from data against conclusions reached by narrowing down possibilities from a general statement. However, he favored deductive reasoning, as it identifies causes, which he saw as more important. Aristotle wrote a great deal about logic and many of his ideas about reasoning echo those found in the modern scientific method, such as ignoring circular evidence and limiting the number of middle terms between the beginning of an experiment and the end. Though his model isn’t the one that we use today, the reliance on logic and thorough testing are still key parts of science today. The Middle Ages The next big step toward the development of the modern scientific method came in the Middle Ages, particularly in the Islamic world. Ibn al-Haytham, a physicist from what we now know as Iraq, developed a method of testing, observing, and deducing for his research on vision. al-Haytham was critical of Aristotle’s lack of inductive reasoning, which played an important role in his own research. Other scientists, including Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī, Ibn Sina, and Robert Grosseteste also developed models of scientific reasoning to test their own theories. Though they frequently disagreed with one another and Aristotle, those disagreements and refinements of their methods led to the scientific method we have today. Following those major developments, particularly Grosseteste’s work, Roger Bacon developed his own cycle of observation (seeing that something occurs), hypothesis (making a guess about why that thing occurs), experimentation (testing that the thing occurs), and verification (an outside person ensuring that the result of the experiment is consistent). After joining the Franciscan Order, Bacon was granted a special commission to write about science; typically, Friars were not allowed to write books or pamphlets. With this commission, Bacon outlined important tenets of the scientific method, including causes of error, methods of knowledge, and the differences between speculative and experimental science. He also used his own principles to investigate the causes of a rainbow, demonstrating the method’s effectiveness. Scientific Revolution Throughout the Renaissance, more great thinkers became involved in devising a thorough, rigorous method of scientific study. Francis Bacon brought inductive reasoning further into the method, whereas Descartes argued that the laws of the universe meant that deductive reasoning was sufficient. Galileo’s research was also inductive reasoning-heavy, as he believed that researchers could not account for every possible variable; therefore, repetition was necessary to eliminate faulty hypotheses and experiments. All of this led to the birth of the Scientific Revolution , which took place during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In 1660, a group of philosophers and physicians joined together to work on scientific advancement. After approval from England’s crown , the group became known as the Royal Society, which helped create a thriving scientific community and an early academic journal to help introduce rigorous study and peer review. Previous generations of scientists had touched on the importance of induction and deduction, but Sir Isaac Newton proposed that both were equally important. This contribution helped establish the importance of multiple kinds of reasoning, leading to more rigorous study. As science began to splinter into separate areas of study, it became necessary to define different methods for different fields. Karl Popper was a leader in this area—he established that science could be subject to error, sometimes intentionally. This was particularly tricky for “soft” sciences like psychology and social sciences, which require different methods. Popper’s theories furthered the divide between sciences like psychology and “hard” sciences like chemistry or physics. Paul Feyerabend argued that Popper’s methods were too restrictive for certain fields, and followed a less restrictive method hinged on “anything goes,” as great scientists had made discoveries without the Scientific Method. Feyerabend suggested that throughout history scientists had adapted their methods as necessary, and that sometimes it would be necessary to break the rules. This approach suited social and behavioral scientists particularly well, leading to a more diverse range of models for scientists in multiple fields to use. The Scientific Method Steps Though different fields may have variations on the model, the basic scientific method is as follows: #1: Make Observations  Notice something, such as the air temperature during the winter, what happens when ice cream melts, or how your plants behave when you forget to water them. #2: Ask a Question Turn your observation into a question. Why is the temperature lower during the winter? Why does my ice cream melt? Why does my toast always fall butter-side down? This step can also include doing some research. You may be able to find answers to these questions already, but you can still test them! #3: Make a Hypothesis A hypothesis is an educated guess of the answer to your question. Why does your toast always fall butter-side down? Maybe it’s because the butter makes that side of the bread heavier. A good hypothesis leads to a prediction that you can test, phrased as an if/then statement. In this case, we can pick something like, “If toast is buttered, then it will hit the ground butter-first.” #4: Experiment Your experiment is designed to test whether your predication about what will happen is true. A good experiment will test one variable at a time —for example, we’re trying to test whether butter weighs down one side of toast, making it more likely to hit the ground first. The unbuttered toast is our control variable. If we determine the chance that a slice of unbuttered toast, marked with a dot, will hit the ground on a particular side, we can compare those results to our buttered toast to see if there’s a correlation between the presence of butter and which way the toast falls. If we decided not to toast the bread, that would be introducing a new question—whether or not toasting the bread has any impact on how it falls. Since that’s not part of our test, we’ll stick with determining whether the presence of butter has any impact on which side hits the ground first. #5: Analyze Data After our experiment, we discover that both buttered toast and unbuttered toast have a 50/50 chance of hitting the ground on the buttered or marked side when dropped from a consistent height, straight down. It looks like our hypothesis was incorrect—it’s not the butter that makes the toast hit the ground in a particular way, so it must be something else. Since we didn’t get the desired result, it’s back to the drawing board. Our hypothesis wasn’t correct, so we’ll need to start fresh. Now that you think about it, your toast seems to hit the ground butter-first when it slides off your plate, not when you drop it from a consistent height. That can be the basis for your new experiment. #6: Communicate Your Results Good science needs verification. Your experiment should be replicable by other people, so you can put together a report about how you ran your experiment to see if other peoples’ findings are consistent with yours. This may be useful for class or a science fair. Professional scientists may publish their findings in scientific journals, where other scientists can read and attempt their own versions of the same experiments. Being part of a scientific community helps your experiments be stronger because other people can see if there are flaws in your approach—such as if you tested with different kinds of bread, or sometimes used peanut butter instead of butter—that can lead you closer to a good answer. A Scientific Method Example: Falling Toast We’ve run through a quick recap of the scientific method steps, but let’s look a little deeper by trying again to figure out why toast so often falls butter side down. #1: Make Observations At the end of our last experiment, where we learned that butter doesn’t actually make toast more likely to hit the ground on that side, we remembered that the times when our toast hits the ground butter side first are usually when it’s falling off a plate. The easiest question we can ask is, “Why is that?” We can actually search this online and find a pretty detailed answer as to why this is true. But we’re budding scientists—we want to see it in action and verify it for ourselves! After all, good science should be replicable, and we have all the tools we need to test out what’s really going on. Why do we think that buttered toast hits the ground butter-first? We know it’s not because it’s heavier, so we can strike that out. Maybe it’s because of the shape of our plate? That’s something we can test. We’ll phrase our hypothesis as, “If my toast slides off my plate, then it will fall butter-side down.” Just seeing that toast falls off a plate butter-side down isn’t enough for us. We want to know why, so we’re going to take things a step further—we’ll set up a slow-motion camera to capture what happens as the toast slides off the plate. We’ll run the test ten times, each time tilting the same plate until the toast slides off. We’ll make note of each time the butter side lands first and see what’s happening on the video so we can see what’s going on. When we review the footage, we’ll likely notice that the bread starts to flip when it slides off the edge, changing how it falls in a way that didn’t happen when we dropped it ourselves. That answers our question, but it’s not the complete picture —how do other plates affect how often toast hits the ground butter-first? What if the toast is already butter-side down when it falls? These are things we can test in further experiments with new hypotheses! Now that we have results, we can share them with others who can verify our results. As mentioned above, being part of the scientific community can lead to better results. If your results were wildly different from the established thinking about buttered toast, that might be cause for reevaluation. If they’re the same, they might lead others to make new discoveries about buttered toast. At the very least, you have a cool experiment you can share with your friends! Key Scientific Method Tips Though science can be complex, the benefit of the scientific method is that it gives you an easy-to-follow means of thinking about why and how things happen. To use it effectively, keep these things in mind! Don’t Worry About Proving Your Hypothesis One of the important things to remember about the scientific method is that it’s not necessarily meant to prove your hypothesis right. It’s great if you do manage to guess the reason for something right the first time, but the ultimate goal of an experiment is to find the true reason for your observation to occur, not to prove your hypothesis right. Good science sometimes means that you’re wrong. That’s not a bad thing—a well-designed experiment with an unanticipated result can be just as revealing, if not more, than an experiment that confirms your hypothesis. Be Prepared to Try Again If the data from your experiment doesn’t match your hypothesis, that’s not a bad thing. You’ve eliminated one possible explanation, which brings you one step closer to discovering the truth. The scientific method isn’t something you’re meant to do exactly once to prove a point. It’s meant to be repeated and adapted to bring you closer to a solution. Even if you can demonstrate truth in your hypothesis, a good scientist will run an experiment again to be sure that the results are replicable. You can even tweak a successful hypothesis to test another factor, such as if we redid our buttered toast experiment to find out whether different kinds of plates affect whether or not the toast falls butter-first. The more we test our hypothesis, the stronger it becomes! What’s Next? Want to learn more about the scientific method? These important high school science classes will no doubt cover it in a variety of different contexts. Test your ability to follow the scientific method using these at-home science experiments for kids ! Need some proof that science is fun? Try making slime Trending Now How to Get Into Harvard and the Ivy League How to Get a Perfect 4.0 GPA How to Write an Amazing College Essay What Exactly Are Colleges Looking For? ACT vs. SAT: Which Test Should You Take? When should you take the SAT or ACT? 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Ask a Question Below Have any questions about this article or other topics? Ask below and we'll reply! Microbe Notes Scientific Method: Definition, Steps, Examples, Uses Sir Francis Bacon, an English philosopher, developed modern scientific research and scientific methods. He is also known as “the Father of modern science.” He was influenced by Galileo Galilei and Nicholas Copernicus’ writings throughout his study. The scientific method is a powerful analytical or problem-solving method of learning more about the natural world.   The scientific method is a combined method, which consists of theoretical knowledge and practical experimentation by using scientific instruments, analysis and comparisons of results, and then peer reviews. The scientific method is a procedure that the scientists use to conduct research. Scientific investigators play a crucial role in following a series of steps such as asking questions, setting hypothesis to answer questions, performing multiple experiments to confirm the reliability of data/ results, data collection and interpretation, and developing conclusions based on the hypothesis. Table of Contents Interesting Science Videos Steps of Scientific Method There are seven steps of the scientific method such as: Make an observation Ask a question Background research/ Research the topic Formulate a hypothesis Conduct an experiment to test the hypothesis Data record and analysis Draw a conclusion 1. Make an observation Before asking a question, you need a proper observation to get information about some topic, which may help to identify the question.  Proper observation in the area of investigation or about something you are interested in is required, whether you recognize it or not.  2. Ask a question The scientific method follows a step by asking a question. Based on what you observe, Asking questions starts with Wh- such as What, When, Who, Which, Why, How, Does or Where?  A question helps to identify a core problem and form a hypothesis . The question should be relatable and specific as much as possible.  Why is this thing happening? What is the reason behind this? How does this happen? Does it need to happen? 3. Background research/ Research the topic Background research on the experiment/ topic is necessary to analyze and answer the questions.  Many scientists are employing various techniques and equipment, such as libraries and Internet research (research papers, articles, journals, etc.), that push how to investigate, design, and understand the experiment.  In addition, you can learn from other experiences, research, or experiments, which helps you not repeat the same mistakes and be aware of doing things further.  It helps to predict what will happen in the future. It also helps to understand the theory and background history of the experiment. 4. Formulate a hypothesis A Hypothesis is an idea or a guess to explain a specific occurrence, natural event, or particular experience based on prior observation. It is another step in the scientific method. A hypothesis allows you to make a prediction. Scientists predict what will be the outcome.  It outlines the objectives of the experiment, the variables used, and the expected outcome of the experiment. The hypothesis must be either falsifiable or testable. It also answers the previous question.  A hypothesis needs to be testable by gathering evidence. A hypothesis needs to be testable to perform an experiment, whether the evidence supports the hypothesis or not.  5. Conduct an experiment to test a hypothesis After formulating a hypothesis, you must design and conduct an experiment. Experiments are the process of investigations to prove or disprove the hypothesis. Two variables play a crucial role in conducting experiments to test the hypothesis.  They are Independent variables (Can be manipulated or controlled by the person, or you can change while experimenting) and dependent variables (one you measure, which may be affected by the independent variable). They both are the cause and effect. The dependent variable is dependent on the independent variable.  All the variables must be under control to ensure that they have no impact on the result. You can also set another type of hypothesis, such as a “null hypothesis” or “no difference” hypothesis.  There is no difference in the intense rain and crop destruction. 6. Data Record and Analysis During the experiment, data needs to be recorded and collected. Data is a set of values. It should be represented quantitatively (measured in numbers) or qualitatively (an explanation of outcomes). After the data collection, you can interpret the data by drawing a chart or constructing a table or graph to show the result.  After the data representation, you can analyze or interpret the data to understand the meaning of the data.  You can compare the results with other experiments visually or in graphics form.  7. Draw a Conclusion Your Conclusion always showcases whether the experiments support the prediction and hypothesis or contradict. Scientists will analyze the experiment’s results and develop a new hypothesis based on the data they collect if they discover that their experiment did not support their hypothesis or that their prediction is not supported. While we conclude the experiment, all the collected results will be analyzed, which helps to interpret the hypothesis. Did your experiments support or reject your hypothesis?  Does your hypothesis prove or disprove your study?  Did your results show a strong correlation?  Was there any way to change the thing to make a better experiment? Are there things that need to be studied further?  If your hypothesis is supported, then that is fine. You can carry on.  But If not, do not try to manipulate the result or try to change the result.  Keep the result to its original form, or you can further repeat the experiment to get better results. Application of Scientific Method It is essential in many sectors, such as social sciences, empirical sciences, statistics, biology, chemistry, and physics. It can be used in the laboratory. Scientific methods lead to discoveries, innovations, and improvements in various disciplines. The scientific method can be used to solve problems, explain the phenomena of the study, and find and test solutions. Scientific methods guarantee that the findings are based on evidence, making the study reliable and replicable and allowing research to occur objectively and systematically. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2024, March 14). Scientific method | Definition, Steps, & Application. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/science/scientific-method Biology Dictionary. (2020, November 6). Scientific method. Retrieved from https://biologydictionary.net/scientific-method/ Bailey, R. (2019, August 21). Scientific method. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/scientific-method-p2-373335 Buddies, S., & Buddies, S. (2023, August 17). Writing a Science Fair Project research plan. Retrieved from https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/science-fair/writing-a-science-fair-project-research-plan Buddies, S., & Buddies, S. (2024, January 25). Steps of the scientific method. Retrieved from https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/science-fair/steps-of-the-scientific-method Helmenstine, A. (2023, January 1). Steps of the scientific method. Retrieved from https://sciencenotes.org/steps-scientific-method/ Cartwright, M., & Greer, R. (2023). Scientific method. World History Encyclopedia . Retrieved from https://www.worldhistory.org/Scientific_Method/ https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/ID/ID-507-w.pdf GeeksforGeeks. (2024, April 18). Applications of scientific methods. Retrieved from https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/applications-of-scientific-methods/ About Author Prativa Shrestha 1 thought on “Scientific Method: Definition, Steps, Examples, Uses” Leave a comment cancel reply. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed . Scientific Method: Step 1: QUESTION Step 1: question. Step 2: RESEARCH Step 3: HYPOTHESIS Step 4: EXPERIMENT Step 5: DATA Step 6: CONCLUSION The first step of the scientific method is the " Q uestion ." This step may also be referred to as the " P roblem ."  Your question should be worded so that it can be answered through experimentation. Keep your question concise and clear so that everyone knows what you are trying to solve. The question should have a purpose ...why do you want to know?  how does this matter?  who wants to know?  This first step should also have a goal . What purpose will the answer to this question serve? Need help picking a question/topic? 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As scientists conduct their research, they make observations and collect data. The observations and data often lead them to ask why something is the way it is. Scientists pursue answers to these questions in order to continue with their research. Once scientists have a good question to investigate, they begin to think of ways to answer it. 2. Make Predictions Based on their research and observations, scientists will often come up with a hypothesis. A hypothesis is a possible answer to a question. It is based on: their own observations, existing theories, and information they gather from other sources. Scientists use their hypothesis to make a prediction, a testable statement that describes what they think the outcome of an investigation will be. 3. Gather Data Evidence is needed to test the prediction. There are several strategies for collecting evidence, or data. Scientists can gather their data by observing the natural world, performing an experiment in a laboratory, or by running a model. Scientists decide what strategy to use, often combining strategies. Then they plan a procedure and gather their data. They make sure the procedure can be repeated, so that other scientists can evaluate their findings. 4. Analyze the Data Scientists organize their data in tables, graphs, or diagrams. If possible, they include relevant data from other sources. They look for patterns that show connections between important variables in the hypothesis they are testing. 5. Draw Conclusions Based on whether or not their prediction came true, scientists can then decide whether the evidence clearly supports or does not support the hypothesis. If the results are not clear, they must rethink their procedure. If the results are clear, scientists write up their findings and results to share with others. The conclusions they draw usually lead to new questions to pursue. If you're seeing this message, it means we're having trouble loading external resources on our website. If you're behind a web filter, please make sure that the domains *.kastatic.org and *.kasandbox.org are unblocked. To log in and use all the features of Khan Academy, please enable JavaScript in your browser. Incorporate STEM journalism in your classroom Exercise type: Discussion Topic: Science & Society Category: Coronavirus Category: Research & Design Why ask scientific questions? Download Student Worksheet Directions for teachers: Have students discuss and answer the first set of questions with a partner, then review the questions as a class. Next, have students read one of the following online Science News articles. Choose the article that works best for your students, or consider letting your students choose. “ ‘Ghost games’ spotlight the psychological effect fans have on referees ” “ What the pandemic can teach us about ways to reduce air pollution ” “ The ratpocaylpse isn’t nigh, according to service call data ” “ 5 reasons you might be seeing more wildlife during the COVID-19 pandemic ” With a partner, students should answer the second set of questions based on the article they’ve read and then use the last set of prompts to come up with a scientific research question of their own. The provided example answers for the second set of questions are based on the online Science News article “ ‘Ghost games’ spotlight the psychological effect fans have on referees .” A version of the article, “When fans are away, home teams lose their sway,” appears in the September 25, 2021 issue of Science News .   Want to make it a virtual lesson? Post the online Science News article to your virtual classroom. Discuss the article and questions with your class on your virtual platform. I. Define scientific questions 1. What is a question and what is the purpose of asking one? A question is a request for information. Questions are asked in an attempt to better understand a topic, concept, opinion, thought or decision. 2. What makes a scientific question different from other types of questions? How is the answer to a scientific question determined? Scientific questions should be measurable and controllable, which means that an investigation using observation, scientific tools or computer simulations should be able to help answer the questions. Scientific answers are supported by empirical evidence gathered through a research, experimental or engineering process.  3. When are scientific questions asked during the scientific method? Scientific questions define the goal of an experiment. Questions must be asked at the beginning of the design process, and are also asked throughout the design process, including during the development of methods and procedures as well as data analysis.  4. Where can you get ideas for a scientific question?  People can formulate scientific questions from observations of and curiosity about phenomena in the world around them. Questions also can arise from existing scientific studies, predictions based on scientific models or theories, and a desire to solve or find better solutions to problems. 5. Why is it important to be able to ask scientific questions? The ability to ask well-defined, measurable questions makes it possible to explain phenomena of the natural world and design solutions to human problems.   II. Identify testable questions 1. What was at least one scientific finding described in the article? With the stands mostly empty, the home team win rate decreased by 8.3 percentage points. 2. What idea could have led researchers to ask their scientific question? Is the phenomenon of home team advantage real? 3. What is one scientific research question that could have been asked by researchers to inform the study described in the article?  How does the presence of fans impact the home team’s win and loss rates? 4. Explain why the question you wrote qualifies as being scientific. Be specific. The question is measurable. The answer was found by an investigation with empirical, quantifiable evidence — specifically, a comparison of game outcomes from the season without fan attendance with game outcomes from the previous season with fan attendance.  5. Were there additional questions that were asked? If so, what were they? The researchers asked how fan presence impacts the average number of foul calls referees give out to home teams and away teams. 6. What makes the opportunity to do this study unique? The COVID-19 pandemic prompted officials to prohibit fans from attending many sporting events around the world. That opened up an easy opportunity for scientists to study the potential impact crowds have on game outcomes. III. Create your own scientific question 1. In what ways, other than those mentioned in the article you read, has the pandemic changed society? Student answers will vary, but could include topics about limited air travel, limited in-person gatherings, changes in working situations and conditions, reduced capacity for medical care for ailments other than COVID-19, the effects of virtual schooling on students, etc. 2. How might some of the changes provide unique opportunities for research? Make a list of things that you could study. Consider the following questions to help you generate your list: Is there a way to build on the research reported in the Science News article? Is there a scientific model or theory that could be used to explore or predict something new based on the circumstance? Is there a problem that needs a better solution in the future? Student answers will vary. 3. Break down your ideas into small, defined questions. Then determine which questions would be most interesting to investigate. Eliminate questions that cannot be answered by direct observation or experimentation. Student answers will vary. 4. Pick one scientific question that you’d like to study. Define the variables and determine whether you can investigate the question within the scope of your school laboratory or other research facilities. Think about the time and equipment you would need to get started, and outline the steps of your experiment.  Student answers will vary. 393 IMAGES Scientific Method: Definition and Examples Scientific Method Explained Formula for Using the Scientific Method The scientific method is a process for experimentation The steps of the scientific method are: Question The Scientific Process COMMENTS Steps of the Scientific Method The six steps of the scientific method include: 1) asking a question about something you observe, 2) doing background research to learn what is already known about the topic, 3) constructing a hypothesis, 4) experimenting to test the hypothesis, 5) analyzing the data from the experiment and drawing conclusions, and 6) communicating the results ... Steps of the Scientific Method The scientific method is a system scientists and other people use to ask and answer questions about the natural world. In a nutshell, the scientific method works by making observations, asking a question or identifying a problem, and then designing and analyzing an experiment to test a prediction of what you expect will happen. ... Research the ... What is the Scientific Method: How does it work and why is it important The scientific method is a systematic process involving steps like defining questions, forming hypotheses, conducting experiments, and analyzing data. It minimizes biases and enables replicable research, leading to groundbreaking discoveries like Einstein's theory of relativity, penicillin, and the structure of DNA. What Are The Steps Of The Scientific Method? The scientific method is a process that includes several steps: First, an observation or question arises about a phenomenon. Then a hypothesis is formulated to explain the phenomenon, which is used to make predictions about other related occurrences or to predict the results of new observations quantitatively. Finally, these predictions are put to the test through experiments or further ... Scientific Method: Definition and Examples Regina Bailey. Updated on August 16, 2024. The scientific method is a series of steps that scientific investigators follow to answer specific questions about the natural world. Scientists use the scientific method to make observations, formulate hypotheses, and conduct scientific experiments . A scientific inquiry starts with an observation. Scientific method scientific method, mathematical and experimental technique employed in the sciences. More specifically, it is the technique used in the construction and testing of a scientific hypothesis. The process of observing, asking questions, and seeking answers through tests and experiments is not unique to any one field of science. PDF Steps of the Scientific Method Steps of the Scientific Method Key Info • The scientific method is a way to ask and answer scientific questions by making observations and doing experiments. • The steps of the scientific method are to: o Ask a Question o Do Background Research o Construct a Hypothesis o Test Your Hypothesis by Doing an Experiment o Analyze Your Data and Draw a Conclusion 6 Steps of the Scientific Method The number of steps in the scientific method can vary from one description to another (which mainly happens when data and analysis are separated into separate steps), however, below is a fairly standard list of the six steps you'll likely be expected to know for any science class: Purpose/Question. Ask a question. Research. A Practical Guide to Writing Quantitative and Qualitative Research INTRODUCTION. Scientific research is usually initiated by posing evidenced-based research questions which are then explicitly restated as hypotheses.1,2 The hypotheses provide directions to guide the study, solutions, explanations, and expected results.3,4 Both research questions and hypotheses are essentially formulated based on conventional theories and real-world processes, which allow the ... The Scientific Method Steps, Uses, and Key Terms When conducting research, the scientific method steps to follow are: Observe what you want to investigate. Ask a research question and make predictions. Test the hypothesis and collect data. Examine the results and draw conclusions. Report and share the results. This process not only allows scientists to investigate and understand different ... 10 Research Question Examples to Guide your Research Project The first question asks for a ready-made solution, and is not focused or researchable. The second question is a clearer comparative question, but note that it may not be practically feasible. For a smaller research project or thesis, it could be narrowed down further to focus on the effectiveness of drunk driving laws in just one or two countries. The scientific method (article) The scientific method. At the core of biology and other sciences lies a problem-solving approach called the scientific method. The scientific method has five basic steps, plus one feedback step: Make an observation. Ask a question. Form a hypothesis, or testable explanation. Make a prediction based on the hypothesis. Scientific Method Research: looking for answers to questions using tools like the scientific method. ... No matter what the question, you can use the scientific method to guide you towards an answer. Even those questions that do not seem to be scientific can be solved using this process. Like with the flashlight, you might need to repeat several of the elements ... The Scientific Method The scientific method begins with observations and questions, which leads to research, hypotheses, and predictions. Once scientists have completed some observations and research, they often have specific questions (or hypotheses) they wish to test with experiments, models, or additional analysis (e.g., statistical). Scientific Method: What it is, How to Use It: Scientific Method The scientific method is a standardized way of making observations, gathering data, forming theories, testing predictions, and interpreting results. Does this mean all scientists follow this exact process?No. Some areas of science can be more easily tested than others. For example, scientists studying how stars change as they age or how dinosaurs digested their food cannot fast-forward a star ... Scientific Method: Steps and Applications The scientific method is a framework of techniques and questions that scientists use to investigate phenomena with the aim of making scientific discoveries simple and reproducible. It's been loosely observed by experimenters going as far back as the 4th century BC, but the first properly formalized scientific method was coined during the ... The 6 Scientific Method Steps and How to Use Them The one we typically learn about in school is the basic method, based in logic and problem solving, typically used in "hard" science fields like biology, chemistry, and physics. It may vary in other fields, such as psychology, but the basic premise of making observations, testing, and continuing to improve a theory from the results remain ... Scientific Method: Definition, Steps, Examples, Uses The scientific method is a procedure that the scientists use to conduct research. Scientific investigators play a crucial role in following a series of steps such as asking questions, setting hypothesis to answer questions, performing multiple experiments to confirm the reliability of data/ results, data collection and interpretation, and ... 1.2: The Scientific Method Step 4: Peer Review, Publication, and Replication. Scientists share the results of their research by publishing articles in scientific journals, such as Science and Nature.Reputable journals and publishing houses will not publish an experimental study until they have determined its methods are scientifically rigorous and the conclusions are supported by evidence. Scientific Method The six steps of the scientific method are as follows: 1. Come Up with a Question, 2. Gather Background Research, 3. Make a Hypothesis, 4. Design an Experiment, 5. Analyze the Data, and 6. Form a ... Subject Guides: Scientific Method: Step 1: QUESTION Step 1: QUESTION. The first step of the scientific method is the "Question." This step may also be referred to as the "Problem." Your question should be worded so that it can be answered through experimentation. Keep your question concise and clear so that everyone knows what you are trying to solve. The Scientific Method: 5 Steps for Investigating Our World The Scientific Process. Scientists use a dynamic, open-ended process to investigate questions. Here are the five steps. 1. Define a Question to Investigate. As scientists conduct their research, they make observations and collect data. The observations and data often lead them to ask why something is the way it is. Biology and the scientific method review The scientific method involves making observations and asking questions. Scientists form hypotheses based on these observations and then develop controlled experiments to collecting and analyze data. Using this data, they are able to draw conclusions and form questions for new scientific research. Scientific method example: Failure to toast. Why ask scientific questions? Discuss the article and questions with your class on your virtual platform. I. Define scientific questions. 1. What is a question and what is the purpose of asking one? A question is a request for ... assignment essay homework paper phd report resume review speech thesis