scientific method

[ sahy-uhn-tif-ik meth-uhd ]

/ ˈsaɪ ənˌtɪf ɪk ˈmɛθ əd /

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noun

a method of research in which a problem is identified, relevant data are gathered, a hypothesis is formulated from these data, and the hypothesis is empirically tested.

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Origin of scientific method

First recorded in 1850–55

Words nearby scientific method

sciential, scientific, scientific content analysis, scientific creationism, scientific empiricism, scientific method, scientific name, scientific notation, scientific socialism, scientific theory, scientism

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use scientific method in a sentence

So gain-of-function has been used in virology and microbiology for decades as a part of the scientific method.
“We never created a supervirus.” Ralph Baric explains gain-of-function research.|Rowan Jacobsen|July 26, 2021|MIT Technology Review
We’re using modern segmentation and scientific methods, in a rapid test-and-learn framework, to develop and refine a proprietary point of view based on actual efficacy and impact.
Media Buying Briefing: Known builds clients an ‘Iron Man suit’ made of data science and creativity to supercharge campaigns|Michael Bürgi|July 6, 2021|Digiday
The reason he made so little progress and abandoned neuroscience was because there weren’t scientific methods by which you could study things.
Consciousness Is Just a Feeling - Issue 98: Mind|Steve Paulson|March 3, 2021|Nautilus
Sherlock Holmes and tons of great detective fiction allow us to play virtual scientists by going into a space where our ego doesn’t exist and we can practice our scientific method of making predictions and testing them.
Literature Should Be Taught Like Science - Issue 97: Wonder|Kevin Berger|February 24, 2021|Nautilus

A group of liberal strategists he brought together in the early 2000s led to the creation of the Analyst Institute, a secretive firm that applies scientific methods to political campaigns.
The Secret History of the Shadow Campaign That Saved the 2020 Election|Molly Ball|February 4, 2021|Time
As Ackerman pointed out, all scientists are skeptics; skeptical doubt is a part of the scientific method.
Extreme Weather? Blame the End Times|Jay Michaelson|November 28, 2014|DAILY BEAST
While none have passed (yet), these types of legislation seriously hinder the integrity of the scientific method.
What Scientific Method?|Ilana Glazer|February 19, 2013|DAILY BEAST
The scientific method cannot establish truths; it can only falsify hypotheses.
Bring Science to Public Policy|David Frum|April 25, 2012|DAILY BEAST
Adhering to the scientific method, we ran through all the standard positions one at a time: missionary, doggy style, girl on top.
Does Sexercise Work?|Meghan Pleticha|May 26, 2010|DAILY BEAST
In brief, Dowds scientific method is nothing more than unscientific humbug.
The Propaganda for Reform in Proprietary Medicines, Vol. 1 of 2|Various
At no time since the days of S. Thomas was the saint's scientific method more lacking.
On Prayer and The Contemplative Life|St. Thomas Aquinas
Scientific method in the work of Hipparchus meant a very different thing from the scientific method of the Chaldeans.
Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, July 1899|Various
We very well know how, as a matter of fact, those very conditions do interfere with the application of scientific method to-day.
Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, July 1899|Various
The very first canon of scientific method is that it be appropriate to the matter in hand.
Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, July 1899|Various

British Dictionary definitions for scientific method

scientific method

noun

a method of investigation in which a problem is first identified and observations, experiments, or other relevant data are then used to construct or test hypotheses that purport to solve it

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for scientific method

scientific method

An orderly technique of investigation that is supposed to account for scientific progress. The method consists of the following steps: (1) Careful observations of nature. (2) Deduction of natural laws. (3) Formation of hypotheses — generalizations of those laws to previously unobserved phenomena. (4) Experimental or observational testing of the validity of the predictions thus made. Actually, scientific discoveries rarely occur in this idealized, wholly rational, and orderly fashion.