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The scientific method is an empirical method for acquiring knowledge that has been referred to while doing science since at least the 17th century. The scientific method involves careful observation coupled with rigorous scepticism, because cognitive assumptions can distort the interpretation of the observation.
Observation in the natural sciences [1] is an act or instance of noticing or perceiving [2] and the acquisition of information from a primary source. In living beings, observation employs the senses. In science, observation can also involve the perception and recording of data via the use of scientific instruments. The term may also refer to ...
Scientific laws or laws of science are statements, based on repeated experiments or observations, that describe or predict a range of natural phenomena. [1] The term law has diverse usage in many cases (approximate, accurate, broad, or narrow) across all fields of natural science ( physics , chemistry , astronomy , geoscience , biology ).
In contrast, unfettered observation is not as likely to raise unexplained issues or open questions in science, as would the formulation of a crucial experiment to test the hypothesis. A thought experiment might also be used to test the hypothesis.
Empirical evidence (the record of one's direct observations or experiences) can be analyzed quantitatively or qualitatively. Quantifying the evidence or making sense of it in qualitative form, a researcher can answer empirical questions, which should be clearly defined and answerable with the evidence collected (usually called data ).
Several philosophers and historians of science have, however, argued that Popper's definition of theory as a set of falsifiable statements is wrong [52] because, as Philip Kitcher has pointed out, if one took a strictly Popperian view of "theory", observations of Uranus when first discovered in 1781 would have "falsified" Newton's celestial ...
Arago spot (1819): Observation of circular diffraction by François Arago, validated a new wave theory of light by Augustin-Jean Fresnel disproving skeptics like Siméon Denis Poisson. Ørsted experiment (1820): Hans Christian Ørsted demonstrates the connection of electricity and magnetism by experiments involving a compass and electric circuits.
In Popper's view of science, statements of observation can be analyzed within a logical structure independently of any factual observations. [W] [X] The set of all purely logical observations that are considered constitutes the empirical basis. Popper calls them the basic statements or test statements. They are the statements that can be used ...