• What is the scientific process?
• What criteria can we use to assess "reliability" of scientific information?

Evaluating statements about health of older adults - click here for handout

The scientific process - an example - Delayed onset muscle soreness.

• Some general properties of the science
  • explanatory
  • predictive
  • tentative
  • repeatable
  • objective
  • conclusions are theoretically falsifiable
    • classes of non-falsiable statements
      • statements of personal belief or emotion - i.e. I believe exercise is a good thing.
      • imprecise statements - i.e. Exercise probably helps some portion of the population to stay a bit more healthy.
      • predictions of future events - i.e. Humans will someday run an under 2 hour marathon.
    • One good way to determine whether a statement is falsifiable is to try to imagine what specific evidence would clearly render it incorrect,
• We will think about a particular research question - What causes delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS)?
• make observations
• ask questions
• what causes DOMS?
• form hypotheses (tentative answers to the questions that must be falsifiable)
  • buildup of lactic acid causes DOMS
• make predictions based on the hypotheses
  • lactic acid buildup and DOMS should be correlated.
• test predictions experimentally
• re-evaluate the hypothesis based on experimental result. modify existing hypothesis or develop new hypothesis.