Biological method

Biological method

A biological method is a scientific approach use to resolve a biological problem related to or produced by a living organism. In order to resolve a specific biological problem a biological method is adopted, which consist of following steps.

1. Observation
2. Hypothesis
3. Deduction
4. Experiment
5. Result
6. Law or theory

Observation:

           About all the biological investigations start with an observation. After  selecting, specific biological problems, observation are made to collect relevant information. For example; take the case of malaria. As we know that "Malaria" is the greatest killer disease of man for centuries. Malaria was the one among many other disease for which a cure was needed.
     In 1878, a French physician, Laveran, studied the blood sample of malaria patient under microscope and obseve tiny creatures in it. These creatures were later named Plasmodium.

 Hypothesis:

    The facts that are observed previously collected information or data biologists  make intelligent guesses as to what may be the possible answer to this particular questions. This intelligent guess in the form of statement is called hypothesis. So, the hypothesis is a statement made by scientists about the certain phenomenon, On the basis of available informations. For examples, an observation was made that plasmodium is present in the blood of malaria patients, So a question was raised, is the plasmodium is the cause of malaria? It would be a good guess to say “yes” but it is only a guess which can be presented as a hypothesis that;
“Plasmodium is the cause of Malaria”

Deduction:

           To test the hypothesis certain deductions that is logical prediction are made. In the other words deduction is the logical explanation of hypothesis. It does not require any type of experimentation. For example, to test the above hypothesis the following deductions were made.
           “If plasmodium is the cause of malaria, then all the patients suffering from malaria should plasmodium in their blood while healthy people should not have”
       A number of a deductions can be made to explain the hypothesis. These deductions can be tested of verified by experiments.

Experiment:

                    To next step to test the each of an deduction predication practically to find out whether or not the hypothesis is correct. In testing the deduction we are actually testing a hypothesis. This is where the scientist shows their his own skills of doing an experimenter. For this purpose, scientists performs two types of tests i.e. control and experimental groups. Control group means group of healthy people and experimental groups means group of malaria patients. Both groups were kept in identical conditions. If we want to find out the real cause of malarial, scientists examined the blood of about 100 malaria patients and also examined the blood of 100 healthy persons.
Result:
         From above experiment it was found that all the malarial patients had plasmodium in their blood, where as the blood of healthy persons were free from plasmodium. These results verified the deduction and finally the hypothesis i.e. “Plasmodium is the cause of malaria”.
Theory:
           It is not always possible to confirm a hypothesis immediately. the validity of hypothesis rest on the gradual accumulation of indirect evidences.