Use the scientific method

Use the scientific method

Marco Island, Florida, June 11, 2019 School News 

In school by 7th grade we studied the scientific method. In high school we took Biology, Chemistry and Physics. But did we learn the scientific method? No! We learned about science, principles, theories, about the great scientists, but not the day-to-day application of the scientific method. We could have learned to apply the scientific method to our own lives day-by-day by practicing the scientific method on our daily lives, but that application was not part of the curriculum.
The scientific method gives us a tool to solve problems. Businesses use a variation of the scientific method to solve business problems. Both methods listed below start with discovering a problem, then move to clarify the problem, then move to develop experiments (countermeasures) to address the problem, then measure the results of the experiment (countermeasures), then draw a conclusion (confirm the results of the countermeasures) and then add the confirmed results to our known knowledge.

Apply the scientific method to your day-to-day decisions like buying a car or getting a car repaired, going out to eat of eating at home, buying groceries. Apply the scientific method to big decisions like should your child go back to the same school in the fall or go to another school or stay home and be homeschooled. To your child at five, one year is one fifth of their life.  One fifth of your life at 35 is seven years. Your child at 12 percieves a school year as a very long time. Compulsory school looks a lot like prison in that you have to go, they order your around and restrict your behavior and even control your learning down to even how you learn a lesson and a subject. You may think and even say to your child that I have a job where I have to go to work, and they order me around, but the job is not the same.  You can quit (I like the to use "Fire your boss"), and look for another job. You can do that today.  Your child has no such option at school.  In fact, if your child quits the school, legal issues may arise.

Does your child have a school crisis?  See my article "Does my child need triage?"
Meanwhile start applying the scientific method to your day-to-day activities.

Scientific Method

1. Make an Observation.
2. Identify Variables.
3. Form a Question.
4. Design an Experiment.
5. Develop a Hypothesis.
6. Conduct an Experiment.
7. Observe and Measure Data..
8. Analyze the Data.
9. Draw a Conclusion.

Business Method

1. Clarify the problem - What really is the problem?
2. Break down the problem - What are the pieces of the problem?
3. Set targets - Develop countermeasures by observing symptoms, gathering facts and analysis. How can we address the problem and identify our targets?
4. Determine the root cause by asking: What?  How much? By when?

     5. Develop countermeasures

     6. Implement countermeasures

     7. Confirm results of countermeasures processes

     8. Standardize the countermeasures processes to sustain the gain

Use containment, corrective and preventive action

Notes: Universal principle - “vital few and trivial many” and Pareto’s Principle or 80/20 Rule - 20 percent of something always are responsible for 80 percent of the results.

PDCA - Plan, Do, Check and Act

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