The Scientific Method
The most reliable way to gain being understanding of the world around is the scientific method, which is a formalized technique for testing ideas through observation, testing, and analysis.
The scientific method begins with making initial observations, which will lead the scientist to develop an initial explanation for the phenomena call a hypothesis. A good hypothesis will make predictions that can be tested. The results of the testing can then be compared to the predictions. Though it may seem counterintuitive, when scientists run experiments, they are trying to disprove their own hypothesis. So, the results they get will either indicate that the hypothesis is false and therefore the hypothesis will be rejected. Or, the results will align with the predictions made by the hypothesis in which case, it fails to reject the hypothesis. No hypothesis is ever considered “proven” with 100% certainty because any hypothesis could possibly be disproved by a later experiment. Instead, scientists speak in terms of their confidence level that the data support the hypothesis.
