Abstract
The whole point of science is to uncover the “truth.” How do we go about deciding something is true? We have two tools at our disposal to pursue scientific inquiry:
-
We have our senses, through which we experience the world and make observations.
-
We have the ability to reason, which enables us to make logical inferences.
-
In science we impose logic on those observations.
Science is built up with facts, as a house is with stones. But a collection of facts is no more a science than a heap of stones is a house.
Jules Henri Poincare La Science et l’Hypothese (1908)
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1995 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Wassertheil-Smoller, S. (1995). The Scientific Method. In: Biostatistics and Epidemiology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-2424-0_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-2424-0_1
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-94388-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-4757-2424-0
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive