CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION, ACQUIRING KNOWLEDGE, AND THE SCIENTIFIC
METHOD
1. Students should be able to describe and identify examples of the basic methods of knowing and
acquiring knowledge, especially the method of authority, the rational method, and the empirical
method. In addition, students should understand the problems that can occur when any of these
methods is used by itself.
2. Students should know the basic framework that constitutes the scientific method.
3. Students should understand the characteristics of a good scientific hypothesis and identify examples
of both good and bad hypotheses.
4. Students should understand how the scientific method is implemented through the step-by-step
research process.