Out of Context: On Scientific method (Definitions)

"[...] scientific method is simply the attempt to acquire knowledge of general laws directly or indirectly by experience, by the use of our five senses. The only limitations that can be assigned to the applicability of this process are those due to the character of experience. Anything that is logically related to experience by discoverable laws and is capable of description in general terms can be dealt with by the scientific method." (Arthur D Ritchie, "Scientific Method: An Inquiry Into the Character and Validity of Natural Laws", 1923)

"Scientific method is what working scientists do, not what other people or even they themselves may say about it." (Percy W Bridgman, "Reflections of a Physicist", 1950)

"Scientific method is the way to truth, but it affords, even in principle, no unique definition of truth. Any so-called pragmatic definition of truth is doomed to failure equally." (Willard v O Quine, "Word and Object", 1960)

"The scientific method is a potentiation of common sense, exercised with a specially firm determination not to persist in error if any exertion of hand or mind can deliver us from it." (Sir Peter B Medawar, "Pluto’s Republic: Incorporating the Art of the Soluble and Induction Intuition in Scientific Thought", 1982)

"Scientific method is concerned with efficient ways of generating knowledge." (George E P Box, "Total Quality: Its Origins and its Future", 1995)

"Scientific method is not much different from our day-to-day ways of learning about the world. Without really thinking about the steps or the standards, common sense invokes the same process of evidence and reasoning as scientists more explicitly follow." (Peter Kosso, "A Summary of Scientific Method, "2011")

"Scientific method is the gateway into scientific discoveries that in turn prompt technological advances and cultural influences." (Hugh G Gauch Jr., "Scientific Method in Brief", 2012)

"The scientific method is the foundation of modern research. It’s how we prove a theory. It’s how we demonstrate cause and effect. It’s how we discover, innovate, and invent." (Kristin H Jarman, "The Art of Data Analysis: How to answer almost any question using basic statistics", 2013)

The traditional scientific method is hypothesis driven. The researcher formulates a theory of how the world works, and then seeks to support or reject this hypothesis based on data." (Steven S Skiena, "The Data Science Design Manual", 2017)