The Seven Steps of the Scientific Method, are used to carry out any research, project, thesis, etc. It is necessary to follow a series of steps so that the work has good results. By reading the following article you will be able to get a basic idea of all the steps of this method.
What is the Scientific Method and its Steps?
The 7 scientific method steps they are a variety of instructions that must be followed to carry out a scientific inquiry, in a universal way. It is the method that is used to know how the evolution of scientific research is going.
When reading the phrase, "the steps of the scientific method", comes the idea of a list of commands that must be carried out in a strict order to reach the solution. In reality, science does not have a rigid method that is used by scholars as a pattern to conduct research.
Scientific Method Steps and Examples
There are seven steps that make up the scientific method, each step will be explained accompanied by an example.
The First Step: “The Observe”
To examine is to understand and grasp all the characteristics of the scientific method. Perhaps it is step number one of the methodology, but throughout the investigation the analysis will always be present, from the beginning when the event is being identified until the end when the results of the investigation are being demonstrated.
This step is not only what you see with your eyes. It should also be taken into account to examine what each of the senses can contribute. A clear example would be when a car has a fault and emits a sound out of place, that is where the analysis will be concentrated, to find out where the sound is coming from.
There is an instrument that can be used to make observations, the homemade spectroscope which serves to understand and know something more about light, it can be used to start a project that you want to carry out.
Charles Darwin (1809-1882), the creator of the "Natural Selection" Theory, made a trip that lasted about five years, along all the coasts of Chile, Ecuador, Brazil, Australia and some other places. In this expedition, Charles Darwin was making notes and collecting specimens of everything he analyzed, which in the end served him to carry out "Natural Selection".
The Second Step: Problem Exploration
Through judicious analysis, all the unknowns that arise can be solved.
When the facts are already specified, it is important to make the comparisons and identify the problem that exists. It is not enough to analyze anything else, you also have to get the solution to all the doubts that are on the way.
In 1983, doctors J. Robin Warren and Barry Marshall analyzed some gastric bacteria that have the figure of "S". They had the following questions: Why had no one seen these bacteria before? And are these bacteria campylobacter?
The Third Step: Hypothesis
The hypothesis is the only statement that an analysis can test. The hypotheses must be verified by means of tests, to obtain the solution it is necessary to make alterations to the tests. In this way the difference between a hypothesis and what is believed is made.
A clear example would be, when it is said "it is destiny" this cannot be modified or altered, since in no way can tests be carried out to verify if this phrase is real or not.
In order for it to be a hypothesis, it must be tested with some trials. To do this you need to have a lot of intelligence. This requires imagination to carry out different types of tests that lead to a true solution.
In the example of doctors Warren and Marshall, what would be the hypothesis? The hypothesis is the bacteria that are in the gastric sample and are doing something wrong. Another example of a hypothesis would be that of the Tartaglia triangle, the Probability Theorem, Pascal's principle, etc., were Contributions by Blaise Pascal.
Fourth Step: Predictions
The predictions, is the expected result of the hypothesis. Mario Bunge says that predictions are specific results:
- About warns of a new finding.
- Compare the theory.
- Action oriented.
When making a prediction of a hypothesis this will open doors for many observations and analyzes or tests to be presented.
In the analyzes carried out by the medical researchers of the bacteria found in the gastritis sample, there was a prediction that if there was a patient with gastritis, they should be treated with antibiotics, so that the cure would be done very quickly.
Fifth Step: Experimentation
A test is a confirmation or preparation, it must be carried out with an order to corroborate the accuracy of a hypothesis. It is very simple, a test that is done in order, selecting a variant element to make some alterations and in parallel make another variant to be altered in the same way.
In the test it may be that there are variants that remain stable, in this way a hypothesis is validated.
When a scientific verification is carried out, it is done with objects, compounds or species that are physical, chemical or biological, respectively, to proceed with the analysis and with technology the variables are measured.
Other scientists must carry out this verification following the same steps, to certify that the result is optimal.
Sixth step: Analysis of Results
One of the most important steps in this type of method is performing the analysis of the data in the tests.
The data obtained as a result of the analysis needs to be reviewed by means of the hypotheses and predictions made. This analysis will say if the hypotheses that have been proposed are rejected or accepted, if it is necessary to reformulate the models and make suggestions for other operations.
Step Seven: Communication of Findings
Another step that is very important in the scientific methodology is to notify the result, which was achieved with the investigation, it is to make known in the best way everything that was achieved and the way in which it was achieved. There is a great variety of procedures to communicate the result:
The first is written: to report the results in writing of an entire investigation, it can be done through theses, publication of articles in specialized magazines, press articles, informative posters in congresses.
The second way is audiovisual: it can be shared when events such as symposiums, congresses, conferences are held, it is important that scientists present their work and that ideas are exchanged with other scientists.
When Warren made his first report dealing with bacteria that had never been seen before in a gastric ulcer, it was done in the journal "Lancet" in 1983.
The same year, Barry Marshall made a presentation at a Campylobacter conference in Brussels, Belgium. The two scientists then received a Nobel Prize in philosophy in 2005 for "the discovery of the bacterium Helicobacter pylori and its role in gastritis and petic ulcer disease."
Flow Chart of the Steps of the Scientific Method
The 7 steps of the scientific method.
Scientific Theories and Laws
If several scientists carry out tests with different real experiments, to a hypothesis and it is accepted, it means that a law or a theory can be constituted.
«Scientific laws are generalizations, principles or patterns in nature and theories are the explanations to these generalizations».