Summary

Key Takeaways

All scientists rely on the scientific method.
Science is an open activity, meaning that results are shared and published.
Everyday intuitions are often used by people to interpret the world. However, they usually lead to errors in thinking.
The empirical methods used by scientists have developed over many years and provide a basis for collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data within a common framework in which information can be shared.
Sometimes statements that scientists consider to be factual turn out later, on the basis of further research, to be partially or even entirely incorrect.
Although scientific procedures do not necessarily guarantee that the answers to questions will be objective and unbiased, science is still the best method for drawing objective conclusions about the world around us.
Pseudoscience refers to activities and beliefs that are claimed to be scientific by their proponents—and may appear to be scientific at first glance—but are not.

Acknowledgements

Parts of this chapter were adapted from the following Open Education Resources:

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Critical Thinking Copyright © by Dinesh Ramoo, Thompson Rivers University Open Press is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.