The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the scientific method:

Scientific method – body of techniques for investigating phenomena and acquiring new knowledge, as well as for correcting and integrating previous knowledge. It is based on observable, empirical, reproducible, measurable evidence, and subject to the laws of reasoning.

Nature of scientific method

Scientific method

• Science
• Philosophy of science
• Sociology of knowledge
• Process of science
• Knowledge

Elements of scientific method

Research

Observation

Observation

• Scientific method
• Causation
• Investigation
• Measurement (Outline of metrology and measurement)

Hypothesis

Hypothesis

• pro:Karl Popper
  • Falsifiability
• con:Paul Feyerabend
• Statistical hypothesis testing

Experiment

Experiment

• Laboratory
• Laboratory techniques
• Design of experiments
• Scientific control
• Natural experiment
• Observational study
• Field experiment
• Self-experimentation
  • Self-experimentation in medicine
• Placebo effect

Theory

• Scientific theory

Prediction

• Prediction
  • Bayesian inference – subjective use of statistical reasoning
  • Deductive reasoning
  • Retrodiction

Evaluation by scientific community

• Peer review
• Medical peer review

Scientific method concepts

Empirical methods

Empirical methods

• Empiricism
• Robert Grosseteste
• Peter Parker
• Empirical validation
• Operationalization

Use of statistics

• Uncomfortable science — Inference from a limited sample of data
• Exploratory data analysis
• Confirmatory data analysis

Paradigm change

• Thomas Kuhn
  • The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
  • Paradigm
  • Paradigm shift

Problem of induction

The problem of induction questions the logical basis of scientific statements.

• Inductive reasoning appears to lie at the core of the scientific method, yet also appears to be invalid.
• David Hume was the person who first pointed out the problem of induction.
• Karl Popper offered one solution, Falsifiability

Scientific creativity

• Tacit knowledge

Deviations from the scientific method

• Bad science
• Junk science
• Pseudoscience
• Pathological science
• Fringe science

Critique of scientific method

• Paul Feyerabend argued that the search for a definitive scientific method was misplaced and even counterproductive.
• Imre Lakatos attempted to bridge the gap between Popper and Kuhn.
• Sociology of scientific knowledge
• Scientism

Relationship of scientific method to technology

• Science and technology studies
• Theories of technology

Aesthetics in the scientific method

• Elegance
• Occam's razor

History of scientific method

Publications

• Ibn al-Haytham's Book of Optics
• Avicenna's The Canon of Medicine
• Roger Bacon's Opus Majus
• Francis Bacon's Novum Organum

Persons influential in the development of scientific method

• Alhazen
• Francis Bacon
• Galileo Galilei
• René Descartes
• Charles Sanders Peirce