Citizen Discovery

English: A cheap and simple compass, made of plastic. Date 5 September 2010, Source Own work, Author Evan-Amos, Permission (Reusing this file), Public domain I, the copyright holder of this work, release this work into the public domain. This applies worldwide. In some countries this may not be legally possible; if so: I grant anyone the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law.“Science aims for measurable results through testing and analysis of natural phenomena.”

Evidence-driven discovery – the citizen historian/scientist’s method: – Test, measure & analyse observed phenomena for clues to the roots of historical puzzles. My goal, always, is to develop directions to test for reproducible evidence:
  1. Thoroughly research
  2. Be skeptical when observing puzzling clues
  3. Delve into the depths – wherever avenues take you
  4. Allow for serendipity – develop If/Then hypotheses
  5. Propose & design methods to test for evidence
  6. If archaeological, report sites to public & scientific authorities
  7. Design & execute experiments that can be independently reproduced
  8. Secure and professionally manage the evidentiary-data-collection-trail
  9. Analyse the results for supporting & contradictory evidence
  10. Publish the report to authorities
  11. Ask more questions

The scientific method – from livescience.com

“When conducting research, scientists use the scientific method to collect measurable, empirical evidence in an experiment related to a hypothesis (often in the form of an if/then statement), the results aiming to support or contradict a theory. The steps of the scientific method go something like this:

  1. Make an observation or observations.
  2. Ask questions about the observations and gather information.
  3. Form a hypothesis — a tentative description of what’s been observed, make predictions using that hypothesis.
  4. Test the hypothesis and predictions in an experiment that can be reproduced.
  5. Analyze the data and draw conclusions; accept or reject the hypothesis or modify the hypothesis if necessary.
  6. Reproduce the experiment until there are no discrepancies between observations and theory.”

“Replication of methods and results is my favorite step in the scientific method. The reproducibility of published experiments is the foundation of science. No reproducibility – no science.” – Moshe Pritsker, as told to Livescience, circa 2015

Image: by Evan-Amos, released into the Public Domain, 2010.