Solving Everyday Problems with the Scientific Method: Thinking Like a Scientist, 2nd Edition

This book describes how one can use The Scientific Method to solve everyday problems including medical ailments, health issues, money management, traveling, shopping, cooking, household chores, etc. It illustrates how to exploit the information collected from our five senses, how to solve problems when no information is available for the present problem situation, how to increase our chances of success by redefining a problem, and how to extrapolate our capabilities by seeing a relationship among heretofore unrelated concepts.

One should formulate a hypothesis as early as possible in order to have a sense of direction regarding which path to follow. Occasionally, by making wild conjectures, creative solutions can transpire. However, hypotheses need to be well-tested. Through this way, The Scientific Method can help readers solve problems in both familiar and unfamiliar situations. Containing real-life examples of how various problems are solved — for instance, how some observant patients cure their own illnesses when medical experts have failed — this book will train readers to observe what others may have missed and conceive what others may not have contemplated. With practice, they will be able to solve more problems than they could previously imagine.

In this second edition, the authors have added some more theories which they hope can help in solving everyday problems. At the same time, they have updated the book by including quite a few examples which they think are interesting. Readership: General public interested in self-help books; undergraduates majoring in education and behavioral psychology; graduates and researchers with research interests in problem solving, creativity and scientific research methodology.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. Prelude
Chapter 2. The Scientific Method
Chapter 3. Observation
Chapter 4. Hypothesis
Chapter 5. Experiment
Chapter 6. Recognition
Chapter 7. Problem Situation and Problem definition
Chapter 8. Induction and Deduction
Chapter 9. Alternative Solutions
Chapter 10. Relation
Chapter 11. Mathematics
Chapter 12. Probable value
Chapter 13. Epilogue