- Scientific research is conducted using the scientific method, a 4-step process that starts with describing what is being observed, forming a hypothesis, predicting an outcome of an experiment and performing experiments and tests.
- Scientists sometimes tend to have a bias toward one outcome or another. The scientific method separates the hypothesis with actual experimental results to prove the idea or theory in question.
- Hypotheses, though limited, relate to cause and effect and represent knowledge prior to experimentation. Scientific theory represents proven hypotheses that are accepted and sometimes further tested and modified.
- Scientific research requires critical thinking, which was developed by philosophers such as Aristotle but further practiced in modern society starting in the 17th and 18th centuries.
- The basis for scientific research is taught in schools throughout the United States. Critical thinking is considered significant to any human endeavor, career and scholastic/scientific pursuits.
