EDWARD'S LECTURE NOTES:
More notes at http://tanguay.info/learntracker
C O U R S E 
Emergence of Life
Bruce W. Fouke, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
https://www.coursera.org/course/emergenceoflife
C O U R S E   L E C T U R E 
Scientific Inquiry
Notes taken on August 26, 2015 by Edward Tanguay
scientific inquiry
progressive, looping feedback of multiple stages of inquire that culminate in the establishment of a new cycle of inquiry
an infinite process of hypothesizing, testing, observing
stages on spiral that narrows onto a problem area
initiation
pre-experimentation
pilot experimentation
experimentation
post-experiementation
re-iterate and re-initiate
at each stage you know more about what you are investigating and you know more about what you don't know
science has the two-prong approach which always brings us to (1) a new juncture for new possibilities of investigation, as well as (2) more information about what we are investigating
scientific method
standard scientific method does not accommodate the above approach very well
scientific method is generally taught in the cookbook approach
ask a question
do background research
construct a hypothesis
test your hypothesis by doing an experiment
analyze your data and draw a conclusion
communicate your results
the goal was to get some kind of scientific result that you could defend, publish, and have inserted into the lexicon of science
e.g. in Yellowstone and other similar places, people thought that the underground water too hot to support any kind of life
hypothesis is that life does indeed live there and you prove it
as scientific method is taught, you learn that life is there and then you stop
the reality is that you take that idea that life exists in extreme environments and then asking the next question, and that is scientific inquiry
good science is messier and larger than the scientific method
good science often yields results that you were not looking for and it yields information that has nothing to do with the original hypothesis
where the scientific method sees this as a irrelevant information, the scientific inquiry sees it as very valuable information
so scientific inquiry encompasses scientific method, sees it as a valid approach but that it is used repetitively in the cycle of inquiry
so by going back to Yellowstone we know that microbes that regenerate and recreate their DNA composition by using a certain suite of chemicals and those chemicals are now used in human medicine
science requires us to go back over and over again to reevaluate what was concluded
science tells us what we know but also what we don't know
goal of excellent science is to both generate knowledge of what we know as well as knowledge of what we don't know
this is the process of consistent spiraling inquiry
steps of scientific inquiry
1. initiation: original idea
what we see doesn't fit with the past
it becomes anomalous
it becomes a value to study
come up with a structured hypothesis
2. pre-experimentation
logical thought experiments
they cost nothing but time and concentration
3. pilot experimentation
collect and evaluate pilot data
suite of analytical approaches
measurements, photographs
4. pilot experimentation
collect and evaluate pilot data
5. experimentation
full data collection and evaluation
experiments that are done well can cost a lot of time, money and effort
money is often the limiting factor
you only want to start this phase when you have the highest possibility of good results
6. post-experimentation
synthesis and interpretation
modelling which combines the data either logically or with computers
test directly the original hypothesis
this stage should never wait until the experiment is over, but should start at some moderate level during the experimentation phase
continual checks to see if the data you are getting are reproducible
7. reiterate and re-initiate
refine and develop new ideas
take the results of your work, go to the beginning
ask (A) are the results of your work adequately fulfilling your hypothesis, and (B) what are the other avenues, uncertainties, and unknowns that the result of this process has given you
in scientific inquiry one is constantly moving in a spiral direction toward a general goal