SCIENTIFIC METHODS
an online book
Richard D. Jarrard
Dept. of Geology and Geophysics, University of Utah
r.jarrard@utah.edu
License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ or
send a letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA.The original native digital pdf file is on-line at: https://archive.org/details/sm_all_cc
Scientific Methods is an online book about the techniques and processes of science and the experience of being a scientist. This book is written by a scientist for scientists. My hope is that it will be browsed by scientists (including graduate students) and read by undergraduates.
Why am I publishing this book online, despite having a willing soft-cover publisher? The main reason is wider availability to readers. A typical science book has a publication run of ~2000 copies, then it goes out of print. Additional factors include educational use and ease of revision. I admit that I would have enjoyed saying that I earned ~25¢/hour by writing this book.
| CONTENTS | |
| 1. Introduction | 1 |
| Overview | 1 |
| Thumbnail History of Scientific Methods | 3 |
| Myth of a Scientific Method | 12 |
| Scientific Methods | 12 |
| SCIENTIFIC TOOLBOX | |
| 2. Variables | 15 |
| Statistics | 15 |
| Errors | 16 |
| Precision > Accuracy > Reliability | 17 |
| Random and Systematic Errors | 18 |
| Representative Sampling | 18 |
| Replication and Confirmation | 20 |
| Probability | 20 |
| Sampling Distribution for One Variable | 21 |
| Histograms | 22 |
| Normal Distribution | 23 |
| Mean & Standard Deviation | 23 |
| Normal Distribution Function | 24 |
| Weighted Mean | 26 |
| 95% Confidence Limits on Mean | 26 |
| How Many Measurements are Needed? | 27 |
| Propagation of Errors | 28 |
| Non-Normal Distributions | 29 |
| Normality Tests | 30 |
| Rejecting Anomalous Data | 32 |
| Median, Range, & 95% Confidence Limits | 33 |
| Examples | 37 |
