The scientific method is often used in the study of biology.
It’s how scientists gather new ideas and analyze information.
While the scientific method is often presented in a linear manner,
in practice it rarely happens this way.
The process tends to be more circular and often double-backs on itself.
Let’s take a look at an example to better understand how the scientific method works.
Let’s say you decide to spend the day at the beach.
After a couple hours, you notice your skin is bright red from sunburn.
You know you applied sunscreen, so you’re curious as to why this has happened.
Let’s use a simplified version of the scientific method to help figure this out.
The first thing you might do is begin to make observations.
You know you applied spf 5 sunscreen.
You don’t typically get sunburns but you were also outside for a longer period than usual.
You remember reading that when sunscreens reach their expiration date,
they tend to lose their potency and may not prevent sunburn as well.
Maybe that’s why you’re sunburned.
You decide to set up an experiment to test this hypothesis.
In order to do this, you need to test the contribution of a single variable,
in this case the expiration data, to the observation, your sunburn.
So, to test this hypothesis you collect a number of sunscreen lotions,
all with the same SPF, but different dates of expiration.
You apply these to different areas of your arm and proceed out to the beach.
Two hours later you notice that all of the areas are showing signs of sunburn –
so you now know that expired sunscreen isn’t the reason you got sunburned,
and your original hypothesis is rejected.
You also remember hearing that sunscreens differ in their sun protection factor (or spf) values.
Maybe your sunscreen wasn’t a high enough spf to block UV light, resulting in your sunburn.
You decide to test this hypothesis by testing the contribution of a single variable,
in this case the spf value, to the observation, your sunburn.
You collect a variety of similar sunscreens with different SPF values and apply them to your arm.
After 2 hours at the beach, you analyze the results on your experiment and reach a conclusion:
Sunscreens with higher spfs do indeed block more UV rays than sunscreens with lower spfs.
It is important to recognize that the scientific method is not used by all disciplines in exactly the same way.
Instead, it represents a process of thinking by which scientists analyze an observation,
identify variables that may contribute to the observation,
and then devise a form of experiment to test their hypotheses.
Often the results of the experiment direct the researcher in a new direction
and make them look at a problem in a new way.
