Steps of Scientific Inquiry

1. Ask a question; State the problem to be solved.
2. Do background research; Gather information and investigate known facts about the topic.
3. Construct a hypothesis; Based on the research, construct an educated guess about the inner workings and what the answer to the questions might be.
4. Test with an experiment; Design a test that will either confirm or refute the hypothesis.
5. Analyze results and draw conclusions.

Purpose

Prove or disprove someone's hypothesis. In other words someone's prediction is correct or not. Designing the experiment should answer the following questions:

1. Does the experiment answer the question I'm trying to solve?
2. Does it adequately test my hypothesis?
3. Can I make observations about the results of my experiments.
4. Will I be able to analyze those results
5. If I run this test will it allow me to come up with some kind of conclusion.

What an experiment needs?

Rule#1: The experiment must show that a hypothesis is either supported or not. Avoid using terms "right" and "wrong" or that the hypotheses are "proved" or "disproved" until we are really sure about it. A single experiment is not enough to prove anything with 100\% certainty.

Rule#2: The results must be measurable and objective. Use standard units to measure different properties. Sometimes need special equipment to measure things such as ultraviolet light and infrasonic sounds.

Rule#3: Experiment should be repeatable and reproducible.

Theories and Laws

Theory, is a statement generally accepted as a summary for a hypothesis or a group of hypothesis. You can also call a theory an accepted hypothesis. When many have tested the same hypothesis and come up with the same conclusion then we can call that hypothesis a theory. A theory can still be disproved.

A Law, is viewed as a universal fact. A scientific law is a general statement about a group of observations that has no exceptions to the rule. Most laws can be stated as mathematical equations, e.g. Boyele's law and Pascal's law. In biology laws are regarded as statements about how living things work, e.g. Mendel's law{law of segregation, law of independent assortment}.