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Article
Scientific methods
Article By:
Bunge, Mario Foundations and Philosophy of Science Unit, McGill University, Montreal, Canada.
Last reviewed:May 2017
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.607200
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Strategies or logical practices, often with iterative steps, used in scientific research. The process of doing science (Fig. 1) is not a "cookbook" set of rules. However, a valid scientific investigation typically involves systematic collection of data and, usually, formulation and testing of hypotheses based on that data. Indeed, the goal of a true scientific study is to ascertain whether a hypothesis is true to some degree.
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