scientific method

A method for gathering data about the world around us. Using the scientific method involves coming up with a hypothesis about how something works, and then trying as hard as you can to prove it wrong. If you can't prove yourself wrong then you cannot say you proved yourself right. you can only say you didn't disprove your hypothesis. In the scientific method you can never prove yourself right, you can only prove you weren't wrong. This is often seen as a tedious and annoying aspect of science by outsiders, but in fact scientific minded individuals gain great joy in being skeptical of everything. If you cannot diprove your hypothesis than it is usually phrased something like "The data supported our hypothesis." This is generally followed by a detailed explanation of everything that could have been wrong with your research that could have led to a failure to disprove yourself. Through this method something can become considered a theory only if many many generations of scientists have failed to find any way to prove the hypothesis wrong. This is a considerable accomplishment as most scientists will spend their entire lives finding critiques in method or theory in the research of others, and trying to find a way to disprove their findings. Information acquired in this way is the only information that can be trusted to have any semblance of truth.