This section explains and corrects some common misconceptions about science and how it works. You can explore the following sections:
- Science is a collection of facts.
- Science is complete.
- There is a single Scientific Method that all scientists follow.
- The process of science is purely analytic and does not involve creativity.
- Experiments are a necessary part of the scientific process. Without an experiment, a study is not rigorous or scientific.
- "Hard" sciences are more rigorous and scientific than "soft" sciences.
- Scientific ideas are absolute and unchanging.
- Because scientific ideas are tentative and subject to change, they can't be trusted.
- Scientists' observations directly tell them how things work (i.e., knowledge is "read off" nature, not built).
- Science proves ideas.
- Science can only disprove ideas.
- If evidence supports a hypothesis, it is upgraded to a theory. If the theory then garners even more support, it may be upgraded to a law.
- Scientific ideas are judged democratically based on popularity.
- The job of a scientist is to find support for his or her hypotheses.
- Scientists are judged on the basis of how many correct hypotheses they propose (i.e., good scientists are the ones who are "right" most often).
- Investigations that don't reach a firm conclusion are useless and unpublishable.
- Scientists are completely objective in their evaluation of scientific ideas and evidence.
- Science is pure. Scientists work without considering the applications of their ideas.
