Approximation of the Scientific Method Problems or questions may arise in your life everyday at any time. The scientific method is a series of steps that help you figure out how to fix these problems or answer these questions. These steps are as follows: observations, hypothesis, experiment, and conclusion or results. It has been said that the scientific method is “the best way yet discovered for winnowing the truth from lies and delusion.” (Wudka, 1998) As an example, I will use the situation of how long it takes me to drive to work from home as to how the scientific method works. Observations The first step in the scientific method is to form a question and make observations. An observation is “information determined by noting and recording …show more content…
An experiment is what is used to test the legitimacy of the hypothesis that was previously made. (Timberlake, 2015, pg. I-11) First we have to set up the experiement, such as, figure out what kind of supplies we need to accurately perform the experiment. In this situation, we would need our depature and arrival destinations, a car, a clock or a timer, and a map of our route. In a more scientific, or formal, experiment, this experiment would be executed multiple times. For an experiment to be done accurately multiple times, there needs to be control. A controlled experiment is one that is consistently done, with maybe only a few differences, each time. (Controlled Experiments, n.d.) For example, the controls in our experiment could be taking the same exact route to work each time, leaving at the same time everyday, starting and ending the time at the same point, and maintaining a constant speed, respective to the speed limits, each …show more content…
By doing this, we can decide whether our hypothesis was true or false. (Timberlake, 2015, pg. 4) Based on the data collected from the experimentation, let’s say that the average time it took me to drive to work was about 18 minutes. Recalling the hypothesis we previously stated, ‘The amount of time it takes me to drive from home to work is 20 minutes,’ we can say that it is false; it actually took less time to drive that work than we originally guessed. We also have to remember that there are times when the amount of time it take to drive to work changes; this can occur when there is bad weather or more traffic and we have to drive slower, or when there is construction or a car accident that requires us to take a detour, changing our normal