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1、Chapter4HowtoThinkLikeaScientistScienceisawayofthinkingmuchmorethanitisabodyofknowledge.CarlSaganBythetimeyou’vemadeittogradschool,youshouldbewellac-quaintedwiththeprinciplesofthescientificmethod.Mostlikelytheconceptshavebeendrilledintoyoueversincehighschoolbiologyclass.Evenso,
2、wefeltitwouldn’tbeabadideatoreviewsomeoftheprincipleshere,astheywillformthecoreofyourworkinthelab.Overtheyears,well-meaningfriendsandfamilymembershaveprobablyaskedthisdeceptivelysimplequestion:“Sowhatdoesascientistdoanyway?”or“Tellmeaboutyourresearch.”Youmayormaynothaveareadya
3、nswerdependingonwhoisdoingtheaskingandhowmuchexplainingyouwanttodo.Butimagineyouaresittingaroundthedinnertableandhavebeenaskedthisquestionbyafamilymemberorfriend,someonewhoknowsnothingaboutscientistsorthescientificmethod.Howwouldyourespondinawaythatwasclearandmadesensetothenon-
4、scientist?Perhapsthesimplestandmostaccurateansweryoucouldformulateisthatscientistsobserveandmeasuretheworldaroundthem(yes,youmayusethisthenexttimeyou’reasked,unlessyouhaveamuchwittieranswerandthenwe’dlovetohearit).Theygatherinformationordatabasedontheirobservations,andwhenthey
5、thinktheyhaveenoughtoanswerthequestionstheyhaveasked,theytrytomakesenseofwhatitallmeans.Duringthisprocess,mostscientistsuseareductionistapproach.Let’ssayonescientistisstudyingacomplexchemicalreaction,anotherisinvestigatingtheforagingbehaviourofthering-tailedlemur,andathirdisre
6、searchingtheoceancurrentsaroundTierradelFuego.Inordertomakesenseoftheseverycomplicatedphenomena,eachof22MasteringyourPhDthesescientistsmustbreakdowntheparticularproblemintosimplecomponents.Thesefourcomponentsareusuallygivenasfollows:•Observation•Constructingahypothesis•Carryin
7、goutexperimentstotestthehypothesis•FormulatingatheoryThesefoursteps,takentogether,arewhatiscommonlyknownasthescientificmethod.Ifcarriedoutcorrectly,theultimategoalofthescientificmethodistoconstructanaccuraterepresentationofthephysicalworld.Youmayalreadyhavelearnedaboutthescienti
8、ficmethodatsomepointinyourcareerasastudentofscience,andwhileit
