This is a science course. Methodology is especially important in the sciences. The method used in science is known as the scientific method. In class, and to a lesser extent during office hours, students are expected to follow the scientific method, supporting assertions with at least anecdotal evidence (actually the standard in science would be experimental evidence, but I don’t expect you to have experimental evidence to quote at a moments notice.) You will be expected to submit to a process of coming up with operational definitions of terms you use that we can agree upon in class, and you will reason, to the best of your ability, in a logically consistent manner.

To keep things orderly, I may ask that you raise your hand and wait to be called on before you “take the floor” to speak. There will be no ad-hominem arguments allowed, don’t call others names or try to prove your case with intimidation, appeals to emotions or to prejudice. Proof and evidence must come from logic or objective observations that no person who is reasonable and has full use of their faculties can deny. In particular, we don’t “vote” on what is true and what is false. Students who violate these rules may be asked to leave the classroom and lose the points for attendance that day.

Below is an example of part of a description of the scientific method from the “The Harper Encyclopedia of Science”, Edited by James R. Newman. Read this and adhere to it in class. There are others that are more up-to-date and complete that you might find helpful, but you can use this to help you formulate your verbal expression in class.

Scientific Method:    The rules of concept formation and inference and the techniques of controlled observation employed in the search for knowledge.  Rules of concept formation and inference, which constitute the logic of science, are fairly constant from one area of inquiry to another, while methods of observation and experimentation vary considerably.  All procedures, whether logical or observational, are scientific to the degree that they are objective, i.e. they yield the same results for all observers under standard conditions, and to the degree that they have proved themselves reliable in the past. 

    The logical or formal part of scientific method can be divided into two components: (1) rules of vocabulary and sentence construction, and (2) rules for inferring conclusions from data.  Scientific language differs from conversational language in its greater precision and in excluding statements that cannot be clearly verified.  The precision of scientific language is due to three features: (1) new expressions are introduced by defining them in terms of expression already in use; (2) wherever possible, concepts are defined in terms of measuring procedures; and (3) the personal and emotional associations that individuals attach to certain words are ruled out as irrelevant, so that the meanings of scientific expressions are the same for everyone. 

    The rules of scientific inference are similarly more precise and more restrictive than those of informal, common-sense argument.  While not all these rules can be explicitly stated, a great deal of philosophical and scientific effort is invested in the task of formulating such rules as clearly as possible; whereas common-sense reasoning is flexible and tolerant of individual variations.  In the early stages of development of a science, its concepts are mainly qualitative and classificatory, and serve the purpose of grouping many diverse phenomena into distinct classes which are then connected by generalizations.  The rules of inference at this stage are mainly those of elementary induction and the logic of classes.  (SEE FORMAL LOGIC)  When techniques of measurement are developed, it becomes possible to relate measurable properties by means of mathematical equations (laws).  The highest stage of scientific development is reached when systematic theories are constructed by means of which many specific laws can be deduced from a few general principles and hypotheses.  Newtonian mechanics is a classic example of this highest stage.  In general, the natural sciences are well advanced on the theoretical level, while psychology and the social sciences are largely concerned with classification and correlation of measurable properties that characterize the first and second levels of development.

    One of the main issues in discussion of scientific method is whether scientific reasoning is primarily inductive or deductive.  Deductive inference is more conclusive than inductive inference, since the conclusion of a valid deductive inference follows logically from its' premises, while the conclusion of an inductive inference is, at best, only strongly suggested.  All mathematical reasoning is deductive, while the extrapolation of generalization from observed data is inductive.  ...