---
title: "Outline of scientific method"
chunk: 1/1
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outline_of_scientific_method"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:44:36.226294+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

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

Basic 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 ===
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
Isaac Newton's Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica


=== Persons influential in the development of scientific method ===
Alhazen
Francis Bacon
Galileo Galilei
Isaac Newton
René Descartes
Charles Sanders Peirce


== See also ==
Bayesian probability
Quasi-empirical methods
Foundation ontology
Ontology
Philosophy of mathematics
Mathematics
Epistemology
Post-processual archaeology is a methodological curiosity from Archaeology.
Structuralism
Post-structuralism
Deconstruction
Postmodernism
Latour, Bruno
Secularism-
Physical law
Science policy
Scientific Revolution
Sociology of knowledge
Science studies


== External links ==