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scientific inquiry

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progressive, looping feedback of multiple stages of inquire that culminate in the establishment of a new cycle of inquiry

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an infinite process of hypothesizing, testing, observing

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stages on spiral that narrows onto a problem area

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initiation

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pre-experimentation

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pilot experimentation

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experimentation

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post-experiementation

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re-iterate and re-initiate

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at each stage you know more about what you are investigating and you know more about what you don't know

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science has the two-prong approach which always brings us to (1) a new juncture for new possibilities of investigation, as well as (2) more information about what we are investigating

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scientific method

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standard scientific method does not accommodate the above approach very well

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scientific method is generally taught in the cookbook approach

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ask a question

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do background research

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construct a hypothesis

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test your hypothesis by doing an experiment

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analyze your data and draw a conclusion

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communicate your results

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the goal was to get some kind of scientific result that you could defend, publish, and have inserted into the lexicon of science

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e.g. in Yellowstone and other similar places, people thought that the underground water too hot to support any kind of life

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hypothesis is that life does indeed live there and you prove it

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as scientific method is taught, you learn that life is there and then you stop

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the reality is that you take that idea that life exists in extreme environments and then asking the next question, and that is scientific inquiry

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good science is messier and larger than the scientific method

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good science often yields results that you were not looking for and it yields information that has nothing to do with the original hypothesis

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where the scientific method sees this as a irrelevant information, the scientific inquiry sees it as very valuable information

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so scientific inquiry encompasses scientific method, sees it as a valid approach but that it is used repetitively in the cycle of inquiry

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so by going back to Yellowstone we know that microbes that regenerate and recreate their DNA composition by using a certain suite of chemicals and those chemicals are now used in human medicine

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science requires us to go back over and over again to reevaluate what was concluded

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science tells us what we know but also what we don't know

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goal of excellent science is to both generate knowledge of what we know as well as knowledge of what we don't know

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this is the process of consistent spiraling inquiry

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steps of scientific inquiry

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1. initiation: original idea

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what we see doesn't fit with the past

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it becomes anomalous

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it becomes a value to study

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come up with a structured hypothesis

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2. pre-experimentation

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logical thought experiments

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they cost nothing but time and concentration

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3. pilot experimentation

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collect and evaluate pilot data

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suite of analytical approaches

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measurements, photographs

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4. pilot experimentation

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collect and evaluate pilot data

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5. experimentation

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full data collection and evaluation

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experiments that are done well can cost a lot of time, money and effort

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money is often the limiting factor

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you only want to start this phase when you have the highest possibility of good results

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6. post-experimentation

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synthesis and interpretation

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modelling which combines the data either logically or with computers

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test directly the original hypothesis

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this stage should never wait until the experiment is over, but should start at some moderate level during the experimentation phase

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continual checks to see if the data you are getting are reproducible

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7. reiterate and re-initiate

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refine and develop new ideas

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take the results of your work, go to the beginning

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ask (A) are the results of your work adequately fulfilling your hypothesis, and (B) what are the other avenues, uncertainties, and unknowns that the result of this process has given you

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in scientific inquiry one is constantly moving in a spiral direction toward a general goal