A scientific theory is different than the way we use the word theory in common speech. Which of the following describes the way the term theory is used in everyday life? It explains how nature works. It is supported by observation and testing. It is supported by experimental results and data. It is a random guess about how something happened.
Answers
In common, everyday speech, most people use the word ‘theory’ to mean anything from a ‘wild guess’ to an ‘educated guess’, as in: “I have a theory as to why I keep losing socks when I do a laundry…”
Essentially, these are proposed explanations for something, but very informal, and, sometimes, not very sophisticated ones.
In science, one can make observations about something and then propose a reasoned explanation for what is observed… This proposed explanation is then referred to as an ‘hypothesis’. In the scientific method, one then employs a series of experiments to test the hypothesis. The object is less about ‘proving’ the explanation than it is about doing ones best to ‘disprove’ it by showing that, for some reason it is wrong. The general idea is that, if you can show the proposed explanation is wrong, you can discard it and move on to something else.
If an hypothesis survives many rigorous attempts to ‘disprove’ it, and has shown itself to be a very reliable means of predicting the results of a large series of experiments, it can then be said to be a ‘good’ explanation. It may then be ‘upgraded’, if you will, to the status of ‘theory’.
In practice, the process is a little more complex in that, in general, scientific theories are amalgams of a whole body of related (successful) hypotheses. But the basic idea holds in that a scientific theory, is a complex, sophisticated explanation for some phenomena that has shown itself to be highly reliable through rigorous attempts to show that it is wrong.
One caveat… Scientific theories are *never* proven. Scientists always accept that a theory may be wrong in some way so they are only accepted as being the ‘true’ explanation subject to further evidence. However, if a theory continues to show itself to be reliable and a good basis for further learning, we can use its conclusions, for all intents and purposes, *as though* they were ‘proven fact'.
It is supported by observation and testing.