LCD 105 - Professor Nathacia

1. A Path to Scientific
Method
LCD 105 - Class 13 - Professor Nathacia

2. FALSIFIABILITY
INDUCTION DEDUCTION

3. Problem
(Initial) Question
Background
investigation
Hypothesis
formulation
Testing through
Experiments
Result
Analysis
Report
Hypothesis
being confirmed
Hypothesis
being negated
Try
again!
Popper’s
Functional Space
Observation

4. Problem
Initial (question)
When we observe the world with “virgin eyes”,
events can be questioned. And when we question
an event, we give the first step toward a scientific
investigation.
I have a car which I use daily.
This week, I put on some Premium gas from Exxon
and it seems that it is taking longer for my car to
run out of gas again.

5. Background
investigation
When we question something we observed in the
world, a new observation process takes place. A
more systematic and specialized one, that might
help us understand better what is going on.
- Gas composition
- Motor of my car
- Comment about my suspecting with other
people

6. Hypothesis
formulation
When we question an event and engage in a
deeper observation, we are able to formulate a
hypothesis about that event, give possible
explanations. We also take as true some
hypothesis formulated by others that we found
during our background investigation.
Premium gas from Exxon burns slower than others
in 1.8 sport cars

7. Testing with
Experiments
A hypothesis have only some chance of being a
good explanation to a phenomenon. Therefore, we
need to test the phenomenon to see if our
hypothesis isn’t false, or built upon wrong facts/
assumptions.
Independent Variables are factors involved with
the event that may be involved in the explanation
to the phenomenon. Therefore, it is the set of
factors that can be manipulated on testing.

8. Independent Variables
1.Type of gas with similar features by brand
Premium from Exxon
Premium from Conoco
Premium from Mobil
2. Type of car (place of original design) to similar
models (1.8 sport)
Asian
European
American
Testing with
Experiments

9. To test all factors, in all possible combinations,
what should we do?
Factoral combination!
Premium from
Exxon (X)
Premium from
Conoco (C)
Premium from
Mobil (M)
Asian (A) XA CA MA
European (E) XE CE ME
American (U) XU CU MU
Testing with
Experiments

10. Dependent Variables are factors that are altered
by the test, during testing. But not ANY altered
factor, only those that tell us something about what
we are testing and about our initial hypothesis.
They are the set of factors that we measure. They
depend on what kind of testing we are conducting.
What can we measure to understand if the
Premium Gas from Exxon burns slower than
others? How can we test that?
Testing with
Experiments

11. Result
Analysis
Hypothesis is
being confirmed
Hypothesis is
being negated
After we run the tests, we have to observe our results, through analysis of the
measures of our dependent variables.
In order to see the bigger picture, mathematical calculus and statistics may (and
must) help us.
Many times, knowledge about other things and events in the world can help us
understand and analise our results.
Our results will support or negate our hypothesis.

12. Report
A very important part of the method is the report. It
is thought to register all the details about that
experimentation, and to discuss our opinions and
reasoning on the results.

13. Back to
Hypothesis
When we go back to our hypothesis, either to rethink it
because it failed, or to test further, we have to think of all the
things we didn't measure or that we didn't controlled.

14. What are some other factors that we could control
or measure?
Independent Variables:
- Year of manufacturing
- Type of road
- Type of gas
Controls:
- Same driver
- Gas station
- Year of manufacturing
Dependent Variables:
- Dust in motor
- Filters
- Power/ Performance
Back to
Hypothesis