Common Characteristics of Scientific Research

Scientific research in its many forms, shares the following common characteristics:

• Think of or recognize a good (interesting, important, tractable) problem.
• Learn a great deal about the problem.
• Decide which experiments/observations/calculations would contribute to a solution to the problem.
• Perform the experiments/observations/calculations.
• Decide whether the results really do contribute to a better understanding of the problem.
• Communicate your results.

(Original page by Mary Frangie)