What is the scientific method and how does it work?

The scientific method is an empirical approach to acquiring knowledge through observation, skepticism, hypothesis testing, and experimental validation. Although procedures vary across scientific disciplines like the natural and social sciences, the underlying process relies on falsifiable hypotheses and verifiable evidence. Scientific knowledge is grounded in observable phenomena and requires verification by independent researchers under the same conditions.

What we know

• The scientific method involves making conjectures, predicting logical consequences, and carrying out experiments or empirical observations based on those predictions. [4]
• Hypotheses tested using the scientific method must be falsifiable so that it is possible to identify an outcome that conflicts with predictions. [4]
• Branches of science are commonly divided into formal sciences, natural sciences, and social sciences. [2]
• Scientific knowledge must be grounded in observable phenomena and capable of verification by other researchers under the same conditions. [2]

Still open

• The exact meaning of Émile Durkheim's foundational text on sociological method continues to be debated by sociologists.

Where to go next

• compared withHow do formal sciences differ from empirical sciences?
• a case in pointWhat constitutes a social fact in sociology?
• how it workedHow are hypotheses tested using statistical analysis?
• the bigger pictureWhat are the primary divisions of natural science?
• whoHow did Émile Durkheim establish sociology as a positivist science?
• an unexpected connectionHow did sociological methodology parallel the exact sciences?Émile Durkheim argued that social sciences should apply the same rigorous scientific method used in natural sciences to establish sociology as a true science.

Sources

• [1]branch of science (Wikidata Q2465832) · CC0 1.0
• [2]Branches of science · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [3]Outline of social science · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [4]Scientific method · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [5]The Rules of Sociological Method · CC BY-SA 4.0