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Scientific Method and Theory

Scientific Method and Theory. Dr. James Danoff-Burg Columbia University. Goals of science. Describe the patterns that are found in the natural world Explain patterns This is the major emphasis of your individual project Ditto for most of the activities that we are doing in the class

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Scientific Method and Theory

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  1. Scientific Method and Theory Dr. James Danoff-Burg Columbia University

  2. Goals of science • Describe the patterns that are found in the natural world • Explain patterns • This is the major emphasis of your individual project • Ditto for most of the activities that we are doing in the class • Scientific method is applicable to many other aspects of life

  3. Methods of Explanation • Approximately 11 Steps • Process is repeated many times • Can NEVER prove a hypothesis • Can only reject many, leaving one as best supported by the data • “Scientific Proof” is a common fallacy

  4. Hypotheses • Null hypothesis • The hypothesis of no change • Often abbreviated as Ho • Alternative hypotheses • Often abbreviated as Ha, Hb, etc. • All must be mutually exclusive • We accept one if Ho is statistically rejected • Which Ha to accept is determined by trends in data

  5. Scientific Method - Steps 1-5 • Observe or suspect pattern • Posit significance of observed difference • Create question to explain pattern • Create testable hypotheses • Design experiment

  6. Scientific Method - Steps 6-11 • Collect data (Descriptive stage) • Analyze data, primarily using statistics • Evaluate hypotheses, reject Ho? • Make conclusions based on data • Note problems in current work • Predict future directions for research

  7. Parts of a scientific report • Title • Abstract - an overall summary • Introduction - background, question, Has • Methods - what we did • Results - what we found, graphs, summarized data • Discussion - interpretations, predictions • Acknowledgements - who helped us • References - who we cited

  8. Scientific Communication • Written report • Traditional • Oral presentation • Commonly used for preliminary presentation of work to get feedback before writing it up • Poster • Visual summary of work - used at conferences • Web page • Can use a written report & make it interactive

  9. Individual Projects – Seven Parts to Design • Question • Null hypothesis & Alternative hypotheses • Independent variable(s) • Dependent variables • Desired data to collect • Data collection method • Expected outcome with reasons as to why you expect that

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