Explore RMBL Data
In this section, you will be introduced to two long-term RMBL data sets: summary data from Dr. John Harte’s warming meadow experiment and Dr. David Inouye’s phenological observations collected since 1973 (coming soon!).
In combination with other RMBL data, try your hand at asking - and answering! - your own scientific questions.
Process of Science
Anyone who has taken a science class has seen the scientific method described as a series of steps something like this:
- ask a question
- formulate a hypothesis
- perform an experiment
- collect data
- draw conclusions
This is a convenient and straightforward list that summarize how science was done for presentation in journal articles and textbooks. Unfortunately, it implies that the purpose of science is to conclude.
But the process of science is much more creative, interactive, and dynamic that that! Science is centered on asking questions and testing ideas as shown in this diagram. Doing science can involve all sorts of inputs you might not associate with scientific research, such as curiosity or even serendipity - a happy accident or pleasant surprise.
Visit Berkeley’s Understanding Science website for an interactive version of the real process of science.