experimental method
Hypothesis-testing procedure
Experimental method is a systematic approach to testing hypotheses through controlled observation.
Researchers manipulate one variable while holding others constant to determine cause and effect: The experimental method requires a control group.
The term is central to scientific inquiry, distinguishing empirical investigation from speculation or purely theoretical reasoning.
- laboratory equipmentTools for scientific work
- test tubeNarrow cylindrical lab vessel
- lab ratResearch experiment animal
- randomizationIntroducing chance systematically
- double blindStudy hiding group assignments
blind study · empiricism · hypothesis · null hypothesis · variable · sample size · falsifiability · control group · clinical trials · validity · replication · reductionism · inductive reasoning · data collection · causality · objectivity · calibration · ethical guidelines
- Early Sciencescientific revolution, Boyle, Harvey, Newton, Galileo
- theoriesatomic theory, theory, chaos theory, cell theory, game theory
experimental methodanecdotal evidence
Support from individual accounts
intuition · guesswork · hearsay · gut feeling · superstition
experimental methoddogma
Unchallengeable official beliefs
revelation · tradition · appeal to authority · case study method · faith
experimental, experiment, experiments, experimentation, experimenter, experimenters, experimentally, method, methods