As I have said before, my mind is not equipped with a tool to know the truth without verification. And since my childlike credulity is dead and buried, I must install a mechanism that can be used to tell what is true and what is not. Some people claimed they already know the truth. Good for them. As long as their expectations and reality are in harmony, they do not have any problem. But if their expectations and realities are not matching, oh boy, problem exist. The following is the method I have borrowed to assertain the veracity or otherwise of any testable and verifiable observation, thinking, or phenomenon. Scientific method refers to a body of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge.[1] To be termed scientific, ...a method of inquiry must be based on gathering empirical and measurable evidence subject to specific principles of reasoning.[2] The Oxford English Dictionary says that scientific method is: "a method of procedure that has characterized natural science since the 17th century, consisting in systematic observation, measurement, and experiment, and the formulation, testing, and modification of hypotheses."[3] Although procedures vary from one field of inquiry to another, identifiable features distinguish scientific inquiry from other methods of obtaining knowledge. Scientific researchers propose hypotheses as expl...anations of phenomena, and design experimental studies to test these hypotheses via predictions which can be derived from them. These steps must be repeatable, to guard against mistake or confusion in any particular experimenter. Theories that encompass wider domains of inquiry may bind many independently derived hypotheses together in a coherent, supportive structure. Theories, in turn, may help form new hypotheses or place groups of hypotheses into context. Scientific inquiry is generally intended to be as objective as possible, to reduce biased interpretations of results. Another basic expectation is to document, archive and share all data and methodology so they are available for careful scrutiny by other scientists, giving them the opportunity to verify results by attempting to reproduce them. This practice, called full disclosure, also allows statistical measures of the reliability of these data to be established
Posted on: Sun, 16 Jun 2013 17:11:44 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015