Transcript The Scientific Method

The Scientific Method
Anthropology 1
Lecture 1
Why does the Scientific Method
Exist?
• It allows scientists a means to
independently evaluate an idea.
• It distinguishes scientific ideas from nonscientific ideas.
Non-scientific ideas: religious propositions
and beliefs, models coming from the
humanities (e.g. structuralism, Marxism).
Elements of the Scientific Method
• Observations.
• Facts – verifiable truths.
• Hypotheses – idea in the form of an explanation:
it establishes a connection between facts testable
• Theories – hypotheses that have been
supported through testing – falsifiable. It is also
desirable that theories be powerful and elegant.
• Laws.
• Testing.
• Test implications.
Who is the Better Scientist?
Jenny McCarthy
vs. Sigmund Freud
The Winner!
The Scientific Method in Action
Observations: core samples of sediments
from North America reveal a very dark
layer.
Core sample from
Arlington Springs
Santa Rosa
Island
Facts about this dark layer:
- It dates to 12,900 years ago.
- Similar soil has been found at 10 other
contemporary sites in North America.
- Contains the element iridium.
- Contains Ash.
- Carbon spherical
fullerenes “bucky
balls” containing
helium-3
• Hypothesis: A comet exploded over North
America 12,900 years ago, during a
glaciation. It incinerated forests over the
face of the continent and caused a glacier
at the center of the impact zone to melt.
• Testing: Since an experiment is precluded,
scientists generate test implications:
If a event of this order had occurred it….
Younger Dryas Event Hypothesis
Test Implications
• Would have left a crater?
• Would have caused mass extinctions,
including local extinctions of humans.
• Would have created nanodiamonds.
Scientists argue that the
massive amounts of water
released by the melting
glaciers caused the Younger
Dryas Ice Age that lasted
1,300 years.
• Does the discovery of nanodiamonds in
the black sediment elevate this hypothesis
to the level of a theory?