Editing Scientific method (section)

===Hypothetico-deductive method===

The [[hypothetico-deductive model]], or hypothesis-testing method, or "traditional" scientific method is, as the name implies, based on the formation of [[hypotheses]] and their testing via [[deductive reasoning]]. A hypothesis stating implications, often called [[prediction]]s, that are falsifiable via experiment is of central importance here, as not the hypothesis but its implications are what is tested.{{sfn | Voit | 2019}} Basically, scientists will look at the hypothetical consequences a (potential) [[theory]] holds and prove or disprove those instead of the theory itself. If an [[experiment]]al test of those hypothetical consequences shows them to be false, it follows logically that the part of the theory that implied them was false also. If they show as true however, it does not prove the theory definitively.

The [[logic]] of this testing is what affords this method of inquiry to be reasoned deductively. The formulated hypothesis is assumed to be 'true', and from that 'true' statement implications are inferred. If the following tests show the implications to be false, it follows that the hypothesis was false also. If test show the implications to be true, new insights will be gained. It is important to be aware that a positive test here will at best strongly imply but not definitively prove the tested hypothesis, as deductive inference (A ⇒ B) is not equivalent like that; only (¬B ⇒ ¬A) is valid logic. Their positive outcomes however, as Hempel put it, provide "at least some support, some corroboration or confirmation for it".<ref name="Hempel 1966">{{cite book | title=Philosophy Of Natural Science | date=1966 | first=Carl Gustav | last=Hempel | author-link=Carl Gustav Hempel | page=7 | url=https://archive.org/stream/1966PhilosophyOfNaturalScienceCarlGHempel1/1966--Philosophy-of-Natural-Science--Carl-G-Hempel%20%281%29_djvu.txt | access-date=30 April 2024}} Hempel illustrates this at [[Ignaz Semmelweis|Semmelweiss]]' experiments with childbed fever.</ref> This is why [[Frank Popper|Popper]] insisted on fielded hypotheses to be falsifieable, as successful tests imply very little otherwise. As [[Donald A. Gillies|Gillies]] put it, "successful theories are those that survive elimination through falsification".{{sfn | Voit | 2019}}

Deductive reasoning in this mode of inquiry will sometimes be replaced by [[abductive reasoning]]—the search for the most plausible explanation via logical inference. For example, in biology, where general laws are few,{{sfn | Voit | 2019}} as valid deductions rely on solid presuppositions.<ref name="Gauch Jr 2002 p30/ch4"/>