1. State the problem clearly and correctly.
2. Research the problem adequately.
(Information, or data, is gathered by careful observation of the phenomenon being studied.)
3. Formulate a hypothesis.
(On the basis of that information a preliminary generalization, or hypothesis, is formed, usually by inductive reasoning, and this in turn leads by deductive logic to a number of implications that may be tested by further observations and experiments. Induction is the process of deriving general principles from particular facts or instances. Deduction is the process of reasoning in which a conclusion follows necessarily from the stated premises; inference by reasoning from the general to the specific. Logic is valid reasoning.)
4. Write the steps that you will take to investigate or experiment in order to gain direct knowledge in regards to the truth or falsity of your hypothesis.
5. Investigate or experiment.
(Investigation involves the careful observation of the phenomenon being studied. A test under controlled conditions that is made to demonstrate a known truth, examine the validity of a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy of something previously untried.
Record, organize and evaluate significant data resulting directly from your own investigation or experiment.)
Record, organize and evaluate significant data resulting directly from your own investigation or experiment.)
6. Draw your conclusion.
7. If the conclusions drawn from the original hypothesis successfully meet all these tests, the hypothesis becomes accepted as a scientific theory or law; if additional facts are in disagreement with the hypothesis, it may be modified or discarded in favor of a new hypothesis, which is then subjected to further tests.
(Even an accepted theory may eventually be overthrown if enough contradictory evidence is found, as in the case of Newtonian mechanics, which was shown after more than two centuries of acceptance to be an approximation valid only for speeds much less than that of light.)
