Outline of the Scientific Method

1. Outline of the Scientific Method Dr. Carlson’s Description of the Scientific Method • Observation or other source of inspiration • Form two or more hypotheses • Discard those contradicted by previous experience • Design experiment • Perform experiment and record data • Analyze data • Check for errors and repeat steps 4 – 6 as needed • Report your results for critical review by others • Repeat step 2 – 8 • Once it has survived a several cycles it becomes a theory • Repeat in a wide variety of situations over time • Once it has survived a large variety of tests, it becomes a law

2. Reporting Results The Importance of Publication • In science, results are submitted to journals for peer review and publication • Editors send out the submissions to experts, who critically review the work and (are supposed to) check for errors • They are supposed to spot errors of reasoning, etc. • They aren’t checking for fraud or faked data • They aren’t redoing any of the experiments • Often, they will make recommendations for improvements in the paper before publication • Sometimes, papers will be entirely rejected for publication • Authors are then free to attempt to submit it elsewhere

3. Publicity and Pre-Publication • Because of the fast pace of information exchange, papers are generally available to other scientists even before they are accepted for publication • Because of inevitable gossip between scientists, there is often leakage of results even before a paper is submitted • For important results, there will commonly be news releases as well • This can often lead to embarrassing false public perceptions • Neutrinos were discovered to move faster than light • Until it was found that there was an error in the measurement • This problem is probably not really solvable

4. Context of Scientific Publications • In general, a scientific publication should include the context of the research • This should include a complete reference to any previous work on the subject • Reference should make it easy for anyone else to track it down • For example, previous studies are cited and their significance is discussed • Also, their inadequacies • Then you explain how your study is going to go beyond this and provide information that was not previously known • We skipped this for our exercises, to minimize your work • Plus it’s unlikely you’re actually going to do it better than anyone previously has done it

5. References in Book Reports • One of the most common questions I get asked about book reports is how should references be handled • In summary: I should be able to quickly find anything your reference • In detail: Anything you previously learned is probably fine, so you don’t have to follow my detailed suggestions • At end of paper, give a complete list of sources • Books: name of book, author, publisher, publication date • Magazines: name of article, author, magazine, publisher, publication date, page range • Web: name of page (if possible), author/source, full web address URL • Anything you state in your book report that is not just your own opinion should be referenced (Carlson, p. 37) (Carlson, 2017, p. 37) (Carlson, 2017a, p. 37) • Anything that you quote must be put in quotes and referenced • Plagiarism is an honors code violation!

6. What Information is Required in a Paper for Publication? • One of the hallmarks of science is that its results are reproducible • Therefore, it is necessary to describe all the parameters that are necessary for someone else to do the same experiment or theoretical work that the authors did • Any specialized equipment that was used to measure results must be described in detail • In experimental work, the specific brand name and model of equipment is often given • All the data has to be accessible, at least in summary form

7. Examples of Which Information to Include • Consider the Astrology test which you recently completed • Imagine you are publishing your results, and you want to make sure others can reproduce your results • Which of the following information is really important for the Astrology test we did? • That it was performed as a FYS exercise • The number of people who were gathering data • The questions that were asked of the subjects before they were included • What about exact wording of the questions? • That the subjects were (probably) all college age students • The data as broken down by each individual interviewer • The summary of the data for the whole class • The statistical calculations used to calculate probabilities

8. Homework 7 • I will try to post this homework on the web no later than midnight tonight • Based on “Conspiracy Theory: Did We Land on the Moon,” 2001 documentary • We will watch the documentary, naively • What is the impression you come away with at the end of it? • We will then read commentary on it • Mostly relying on commentary by Phil Plaitt, the “Bad Astronomer” • We’ll start by reading an overall description by him • Then we’ll read a selection of sixteen refutations by him • And four more refutations on issues not discussed in the film • By next Tuesday, you should have read your groups selections • And next Thursday, your group will give its presentation

9. Homework 7 • Based on “Conspiracy Theory: Did We Land on the Moon,” 2001 documentary • Every group must discuss four issues chosen from below