LibGuides: Classification: Scientific Observation

Science investigates all natural phenomena. And scientists approach these investigations in all sorts of ways. Some depend on experiments, some on observational studies. Some lead to dead ends, some to unexpected discoveries. Some result in a technological advance, and some cast doubt on an established theory. But despite all that diversity, the aim of science remains unchanged — to build more accurate and powerful natural explanations of how the universe works — and that requires testing ideas with evidence to build scientific arguments. These arguments form the core of science.

The core of science

Building a scientific argument
In science, the term argument refers not to a disagreement between two people, but to an evidence-based line of reasoning — so scientific arguments are more like the closing argument in a court case (a logical description of what we think and why we think it) than they are like the fights you may have had with siblings.
Scientific arguments involve three components: the idea (a hypothesis or theory), the expectations generated by that idea (frequently called predictions), and the actual observations relevant to those expectations (the evidence).

The scientific process

The scientific process - the simple version

The real process of science

The real process of science

To see the full complexity of the process of science, roll your mouse over each element. In contrast to the linear steps of the simplified scientific method, this process is non-linear.