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<!--Please see talk page for discussion on why the word "the" is not used here-->'''Scientific method''' refers to a body of [[Scientific technique|techniques]] for investigating [[phenomenon|phenomena]], acquiring new [[knowledge]], or correcting and integrating previous knowledge.<ref name="Goldhaber 2010 page=940">{{harvnb|Goldhaber|Nieto|2010|page=940}}</ref> To be termed scientific, a method (contracted; show full)

In contrast to the always-provisional status of scientific theory, a [[myth]] can be believed and acted upon, or depended upon, irrespective of its truth.<ref>"A myth is a belief given uncritical acceptance by members of a group ..." 
——Weiss, ''Business Ethics'' p. 15, as cited by Ronald R. Sims (2003) ''Ethics and corporate social responsibility: why giants fall'' p.21</ref> [[Imre Lakatos]] has noted that once a narrative is constructed its elements become easier to believe (this is called the [[narrative fallacy]]).<ref>[[Imre Lakatos]] (1976), ''[[Proofs and Refutations]]''. {{harvnb|Taleb|2007|p=72}} lists ways to avoid narrative fallacy and confirmation bias.<(contracted; show full)

Thomas Brody notes that confirmed theories are subject to subsumption by other theories, as special cases of a more general theory. For example, thousands of years of scientific observations of the planets were explained by Newton's laws. Thus the body of independent, unconnected, scientific observation can diminish.<ref>{{harvnb|Brody |1993|pp=44
––45}}</ref> Yet there is a preference in the scientific community for new, surprising statements, and the search for evidence that the new is true.<ref name="Goldhaber 2010 page=940"/></ref> {{harvnb|Goldhaber|Nieto|2010|page=941}} additionally state that "If many closely neighboring subjects are described by connecting theoretical concepts, then a theoretical structure acquires a robustness which makes it increasingly hard ——though certainly never impossible—— to overturn."

==Elements of scientific method==
There are different ways of outlining the basic method used for scientific inquiry. The [[scientific community]] and [[philosophers of science]] generally agree on the following classification of method components. These methodological elements and organization of procedures tend to be more characteristic of [[natural science]]s than [[social science]]s. Nonetheless, the cycle of formulating hypotheses, testing and analyzing the results, and formulating(contracted; show full)[[sv:Vetenskaplig metod]]
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