experimental methods
Testing-based research approaches
Experimental methods are systematic procedures for testing hypotheses through controlled observation.
The term appears most often in scientific contexts, where researchers manipulate variables and measure outcomes: The study used experimental methods to determine whether the drug reduced symptoms.
The phrase emphasizes deliberate design over casual observation—controlling conditions, isolating causes, and making results reproducible.
- lab ratsRodents used in experiments
- surveysSystematic information gathering
- research designPlan for conducting investigations
- control groupsUnaltered experimental baselines
- randomizationIntroducing chance systematically
statistical analysis · pilot studies · replication · sample size · simulations · independent variables · hypothesis testing · trial and error · test tube · double blind · blind study · physics simulations · data visualization · peer review · dependent variables · null hypothesis · A/B testing · pattern recognition
experimental methodspure theory
abstract reasoning · deductive reasoning · thought experiments · mathematical modeling
experimental methodsdogma
Unchallengeable official beliefs
received wisdom · tradition · appeals to authority · doctrine · conventional wisdom
experimental, experiment, experiments, experimented, experimenting, experimentation, experimentalist, experimentally, experimenter