THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD

 

1                     OBJECTIVE (PURPOSE OR QUESTION):  the problem that the experimenter wants to solve, or the question to be answered

 

2          RESEARCH (BACKGROUND):  observing and gathering information about the problem or question; examining previous experiments related to the objective

 

3              HYPOTHESIS (PREDICTION):  a proposed explanation for a problem or observation that usually includes a prediction of what will happen, or an educated

            guess based upon what the experimenter has already learned

 

4              EXPERIMENT (TEST):  the activity designed to test the hypothesis

 

VARIABLE:  the factor being tested

 

CONTROL:  the experiment with the variable left out; the control is used to compare with the variable to see if the hypothesis is correct

 

5          OBSERVATIONS: what the experimenter sees, hears, feels, tastes, smells, or detects

 

6              DATA:  the observations and measurements actually made and recorded

 

7          ANALYSIS (RESULTS): the organization of data into meaningful tables, graphs, and charts

 

8          CONCLUSION: the determination of whether the hypothesis or prediction is correct; the hypothesis is accepted, rejected, or revised for another experiment