Scientific Method

how to think and work like a scientist

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Welcome!My name is Zweistein, I will be assisting you in learning how to think and work like a real scientist!

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A good question?Knowledge

ObservationImagination

How to think and work like a scientistAn educated guess… A valid hypothesis!

TestabilityFalsifiability

Wrap-Up

First, let me show you how to use this workshop!You can navigate through the exercise by using the links on top.

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!?A good question?Knowledge

ObservationImagination

An educated guess… A valid hypothesis!Testability

FalsifiabilityWrap-Up

How to think and work like a scientist

You may return to any chapter at any given time for reviewing purpose.Additionally, you can go back and forward using the arrows on top!

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!?A good question?Knowledge

ObservationImagination

An educated guess… A valid hypothesis!Testability

FalsifiabilityWrap-Up

How to think and work like a scientist

Shall we begin?

Let’s start!

!?A good question?Knowledge

ObservationImagination

An educated guess… A valid hypothesis!Testability

FalsifiabilityWrap-Up

How to think and work like a scientist

???At the beginning of each experiment, there always has to be a question.

WHAT?

WHY?

HOW?

WHERE?

WHEN?

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!?A good question?Knowledge

ObservationImagination

An educated guess… A valid hypothesis!Testability

FalsifiabilityWrap-Up

How to think and work like a scientist

OBSERVATIONKNOWLEDGE

IMAGINATION

A good scientific question emerges from three components.

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!?A good question?Knowledge

ObservationImagination

An educated guess… A valid hypothesis!Testability

FalsifiabilityWrap-Up

How to think and work like a scientist

OBSERVATION

IMAGINATION

KNOWLEDGE

What do we know already?

What do we NOT know yet?

Journals

Libraries

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!?A good question?Knowledge

ObservationImagination

An educated guess… A valid hypothesis!Testability

FalsifiabilityWrap-Up

How to think and work like a scientist

KNOWLEDGE

IMAGINATION

OBSERVATION

Existing Data

ExplorationDid you discover something?

Is there a different way to analyze already existing data?

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!?A good question?Knowledge

ObservationImagination

An educated guess… A valid hypothesis!Testability

FalsifiabilityWrap-Up

How to think and work like a scientist

OBSERVATIONKNOWLEDGE

Ideas

IMAGINATION

Be creative!

Think out of the box!

Problem Solving

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!?A good question?Knowledge

ObservationImagination

An educated guess… A valid hypothesis!Testability

FalsifiabilityWrap-Up

How to think and work like a scientist

OK, now that you know how to come up with an interesting scientific question, it is time for practice.

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!?A good question?Knowledge

ObservationImagination

An educated guess… A valid hypothesis!Testability

FalsifiabilityWrap-Up

How to think and work like a scientist

Think about an interesting question. Something you would like to know about…Write your question down.

I’m done …

!?A good question?Knowledge

ObservationImagination

An educated guess… A valid hypothesis!Testability

FalsifiabilityWrap-Up

How to think and work like a scientist

Here are some examples of questions people may ask.

Is there a deity that created the universe?

What is the best recipe for cheese cake?

How can we make cars more fuel efficient? Can we stop a volcano

from erupting by throwing in a virgin?

Will humans ever live forever?

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!?A good question?Knowledge

ObservationImagination

An educated guess… A valid hypothesis!Testability

FalsifiabilityWrap-Up

How to think and work like a scientist

Now that you have a question, the next step is to formulate a hypothesis , i.e. what do you expect or assume?Let’s do this for our examples!

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!?A good question?Knowledge

ObservationImagination

An educated guess… A valid hypothesis!Testability

FalsifiabilityWrap-Up

How to think and work like a scientist

Is there a deity that created the universe?

Click on the question to show a possible hypothesis for that questions. Click the hypothesis to see the question again.

An almighty being has created the universe. What is the best recipe

for cheese cake?

How can we make cars more fuel efficient? Can we stop a volcano

from erupting by throwing in a virgin?

Will humans ever live forever?

My grandma’s recipe makes the best cheese cake.

No human will ever live forever.

Volcanoes will stop erupting when a virgin is thrown in.

Reducing the weight of a car will always increase its fuel efficiency.

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!?A good question?Knowledge

ObservationImagination

An educated guess… A valid hypothesis!Testability

FalsifiabilityWrap-Up

How to think and work like a scientist

Time for practice again!Look at your question and formulate a hypothesis. What do you expect the answer to be? Or do you think you know what is NOT the answer?Write your hypothesis down!

Let me take another look at those examples … Continue …

!?A good question?Knowledge

ObservationImagination

An educated guess… A valid hypothesis!Testability

FalsifiabilityWrap-Up

How to think and work like a scientist

You now have a hypothesis, an educated guess of the answer to your question.But is it a good one?Let’s figure it out!

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!?A good question?Knowledge

ObservationImagination

An educated guess… A valid hypothesis!Testability

FalsifiabilityWrap-Up

How to think and work like a scientist

1. TESTABILITY

2. FALSIFIABILITY

TWO ASPECTS OF AVALID HYPOTHESIS

Valid Hypothesis!

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!?A good question?Knowledge

ObservationImagination

An educated guess… A valid hypothesis!Testability

FalsifiabilityWrap-Up

How to think and work like a scientist

1. TESTABILITY

2. FALSIFIABILITY

TWO ASPECTS OF AVALID HYPOTHESIS

Let’s take a look at these, one by one!

Valid Hypothesis!

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!?A good question?Knowledge

ObservationImagination

An educated guess… A valid hypothesis!Testability

FalsifiabilityWrap-Up

How to think and work like a scientist

1. TESTABILITY

2. FALSIFIABILITY

TWO ASPECTS OF AVALID HYPOTHESIS

Valid Hypothesis!

Can data be collected to answer your question?Can you design an experiment to answer your question?

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!?A good question?Knowledge

ObservationImagination

An educated guess… A valid hypothesis!Testability

FalsifiabilityWrap-Up

How to think and work like a scientist

1. TESTABILITY

TWO ASPECTS OF AVALID HYPOTHESIS

Can data be collected to answer your question?Can you design an experiment to answer your question?Let’s check our

examples!

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!?A good question?Knowledge

ObservationImagination

An educated guess… A valid hypothesis!Testability

FalsifiabilityWrap-Up

How to think and work like a scientist

An almighty being has created the universe. My grandma’s recipe makes

the best cheese cake.

No human will ever live forever.

Volcanoes will stop erupting when a virgin is thrown in.

Reducing the weight of a car will always increase its fuel efficiency.

Are these hypotheses testable? Click the respective box to check your answer.A green tick means testable, a red cross means not testable. Click for explanations!

Even though ethically problematic, to say the least, you could test this! Of course, no one would allow you to do it but hypothetically, it is possible.

You can test this by observing human populations. As long as individuals die, your hypothesis is supported.

There is no way of telling whether there is an almighty being or not because we don’t ever know whether our observations are manipulated by such a being, if it existed.

This one is easy! You can certainly take a car, increase or decrease its weight and measure the gas mileage it gets.

This is a tricky one! You can ask hundreds of people for their opinion. However, “best” is a subjective opinion, and therefore not scientifically measurable!

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!?A good question?Knowledge

ObservationImagination

An educated guess… A valid hypothesis!Testability

FalsifiabilityWrap-Up

How to think and work like a scientist

1. TESTABILITY

2. FALSIFIABILITY

TWO ASPECTS OF AVALID HYPOTHESIS

Can the hypothesis be disproven?

Can the answer be “no”?

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!?A good question?Knowledge

ObservationImagination

An educated guess… A valid hypothesis!Testability

FalsifiabilityWrap-Up

How to think and work like a scientist

My grandma’s recipe makes the best cheese cake.

An almighty being has created the universe.

No human will ever live forever.

Volcanoes will stop erupting when a virgin is thrown in.

Reducing the weight of a car will always increase its fuel efficiency.

Are these hypotheses falsifiable? Click the respective box to check your answer.A green tick means testable, a red cross means not testable. Click for explanations!

There is a (high) possibility that sacrificing a virgin will not stop a volcano from erupting. That possibility is also observable. Therefore, this hypothesis is falsifiable.

This hypothesis cannot be disproven, it is therefore not falsifiable. We do not know if in the future a human being will be born that outlives us all.

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This is falsifiable. Results could show that higher weight results in better gas mileage, or that there is no change at all. Higher weight from extra parts for better aerodynamics could cause this, for example.

!?A good question?Knowledge

ObservationImagination

An educated guess… A valid hypothesis!Testability

FalsifiabilityWrap-Up

How to think and work like a scientist

1. TESTABILITY

2. FALSIFIABILITY

TWO ASPECTS OF AVALID HYPOTHESIS

Valid Hypothesis!

Continue …

!?A good question?Knowledge

ObservationImagination

An educated guess… A valid hypothesis!Testability

FalsifiabilityWrap-Up

How to think and work like a scientist

My grandma’s recipe makes the best cheese cake.

An almighty being has created the universe.

No human will ever live forever.

These two hypotheses are scientifically testable and falsifiable.

Does your hypothesis pass the test? Continue …

Volcanoes will stop erupting when a virgin is thrown in.

Reducing the weight of a car will always increase its fuel efficiency.

1. TESTABILITY

2. FALSIFIABILITY

Valid Hypothesis!

!?A good question?Knowledge

ObservationImagination

An educated guess… A valid hypothesis!Testability

FalsifiabilityWrap-Up

How to think and work like a scientist

Let’s wrap it up!

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!?A good question?Knowledge

ObservationImagination

An educated guess… A valid hypothesis!Testability

FalsifiabilityWrap-Up

How to think and work like a scientist

1. TESTABILITY2. FALSIFIABILITY

RESEARCH QUESTION

Valid Hypothesis!

OBSERVATIONKNOWLEDGE

IMAGINATION

HYPOTHESIS

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!?A good question?Knowledge

ObservationImagination

An educated guess… A valid hypothesis!Testability

FalsifiabilityWrap-Up

How to think and work like a scientist

You know now how to ask a good question and how to

formulate a valid hypothesis!

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!?A good question?Knowledge

ObservationImagination

An educated guess… A valid hypothesis!Testability

FalsifiabilityWrap-Up

How to think and work like a scientist

Observe one death

If your hypothesis is testable and falsifiable, bring it to the first lab!If not, rephrase it until you think it works!

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!?A good question?Knowledge

ObservationImagination

An educated guess… A valid hypothesis!Testability

FalsifiabilityWrap-Up

How to think and work like a scientist

No human will ever live forever.

All humans live forever.false

Don’t worry if you’re not sure, your lab group and your instructor will discuss your hypothesis.I will see you in our next exercise: how to design a good experiment!

Finish this workshop …

!?A good question?Knowledge

ObservationImagination

An educated guess… A valid hypothesis!Testability

FalsifiabilityWrap-Up

How to think and work like a scientist