What is Science?
Science is one way of understanding the world. The basic premise of science is that the phenomena we observe in the world result from natural causes. Scientists seek those causes.
Like any discipline, science has a set of rules. These have been developed to counteract a number of well-documented problems in our ability to make observations and to draw conclusions from those observations.
The biggest problem we must overcome is our tendency to believe what we want to believe. Perhaps equally problematic is our excellent ability to reject all evidence that contradicts our beliefs.
- Controls must be employed
- Measurements must be objective
- Results must be reproducible
- Methods, results, and conclusions must be shared
- Methods, results, and conclusions must pass peer review
- Conflicts of interest must be revealed
- Authors must play "devil's advocate," arguing that their conclusions might not be correct and explaining why this might be the case.