Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 137. Chapters: Statistics, Theory, Skepticism, Physical law, Protoscience, Alhazen, Serendipity, Peer review, Inverse-square law, Reproducibility, Empirical method, Empirical validation, Quasi-empirical method, Scientific enterprise, History of scientific method, Source criticism, Personalized medicine, Evidence-based practice, Level of measurement, Qualitative research, List of multiple discoveries, Scientific theory, Data analysis, Science of Team Science, Hypothesis, Open Notebook Science, Case study, Scientific consensus, Data sharing, Pseudoskepticism, Blind experiment, Models of scientific inquiry, Jadad scale, Quantitative research, Open peer review, Prediction, Timeline of the history of scientific method, Selection bias, Operationalization, Self-experimentation, Multiple discovery, Scientific evidence, Outline of scientific method, Scientific control, Self-experimentation in medicine, List of examples of Stigler's law, Nano spray dryer, Post-normal science, Stigler's law of eponymy, Observational study, Evidence-Informed Policy Network, Hypothetico-deductive model, Experimenter's regress, Clinical study design, Deductive-nomological model, Critical-Creative Thinking and Behavioral Research Laboratory, Construct, Interdisciplinary peer review, Scientific progress, Examples of scientific method, Cybermethodology, Strong inference, Peer review failure, Scientific literacy, Quietism, Experimentum crucis, Scientometrics, Descriptive research, Visualized Experimental Biology, Pilot experiment, Scientific law, Mature technology, Mertonian norms, Heroic theory of invention and scientific development, Retrodiction, Expert elicitation, Observational science, Semantic Technology Institute International, Suspension of judgment, Pasteur's Quadrant, Total Balance, Discovery science, OGHET, Open-label trial, Laboratory experimentation, Blind taste test, Adversarial review, Structuralism, Translational science, Question focused dataset, Free parameter. Excerpt: Scientific method refers to a body of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge. To be termed scientific, a method of inquiry must be based on gathering empirical and measurable evidence subject to specific principles of reasoning. The Oxford English Dictionary says that scientific method is: "a method of procedure that has characterized natural science since the 17th century, consisting in systematic observation, measurement, and experiment, and the formulation, testing, and modification of hypotheses." Although procedures vary from one field of inquiry to another, identifiable features distinguish scientific inquiry from other methods of obtaining knowledge. Scientific researchers propose hypotheses as explanations of phenomena, and design experimental studies to test these hypotheses via predictions which can be derived from them. These steps must be repeatable, to guard against mistake or confusion in any particular experimenter. Theories that encompass wider domains of inquiry may bind many independently derived hypotheses together in a coherent, supportive structure. Theories, in turn, may help form new hypotheses or place groups of hypotheses into context. Scientific inquiry is generally intended to be as objective as possible, to reduce biased interpretations of results. Another basic expectation is to document, archive and share all data and methodology so they are available for ca...