An experiment involves controlling one 'input' variable, holding all others

constant (to the best of your ability) and measuring the effect on an output
variable of a change in the control variable. The 'quality' of an experiment
depends in part on how well you can control the other variables. By this
standard, the lowest quality experiments are the 'natural experiments'
frequently used in biology due to restrictions imposed by budget or ethics.
For example, you cannot perform an experiment that involves killing people,
but you can look for naturally arising situations that are similar except for
the 'control' variable and see how it effects survival.

An experiment also has to test an hypothesis, theory or law, otherwise it is

pointless. Or to put it more politely, it is merely an observation. You need to
make a prediction based on your hypothesis. For the experiment to be valid,
your observations need to be likely to be different from your prediction if
your hypothesis is wrong. However, if your hypothesis predicts one thing,
but can be 'reinterpreted' to accommodate any likely observation, your
experiment is worthless.

From wikipedia:

In the scientific method, an experiment (Latin: ex-+-periri, "of (or from)

trying"), is a set of actions and observations, performed in the context of
solving a particular problem or question, to support or falsify a hypothesis or
research concerning phenomena. The experiment is a cornerstone in the
empirical approach to acquiring deeper knowledge about the physical world.

Design of experiments:

The experiments conducted in accord with the scientific method have several
features in common. The design of experiments attempts to balance the
requirements and limitations of the field of science in which one works so
that the experiment can provide the best conclusion about the hypothesis
being tested.

In some sciences, such as physics and chemistry, it is relatively easy to

meet the requirements that all measurements be made objectively, and that
all conditions can be kept controlled across experimental trials. On the other
hand, in other cases such as biology, and medicine, it is often hard to ensure
that the conditions of an experiment are performed consistently; and in the
social sciences, it may even be difficult to determine a method for measuring
the outcomes of an experiment in an objective manner.

For this reason, sciences such as physics and several other fields of natural
science are sometimes informally referred to as "hard sciences", while social
sciences are sometimes informally referred to as "soft sciences"; in an
attempt to capture the idea that objective measurements are often far easier
in the former, and far more difficult in the latter.

In addition, in the social sciences, the requirement for a "controlled

situation" may actually work against the utility of the hypothesis in a more
general situation. When the desire is to test a hypothesis that works "in
general", an experiment may have a great deal of internal validity, in the
sense that it is valid in a highly controlled situation, while at the same time
lack external validity when the results of the experiment are applied to a real
world situation. One of the reasons why this may happen is the Hawthorne
effect; another is that partial equilibrium effects may not persist in general
equilibrium.

As a result of these considerations, experimental design in the "hard"

sciences tends to focus on the elimination of extraneous effects, while
experimental design in the "soft" sciences focuses more on the problems of
external validity, often through the use of statistical methods. Occasionally
events occur naturally from which scientific evidence can be drawn, which is
the basis for natural experiments. In such cases the problem of the scientist
is to evaluate the natural "design".

experiment

  
Definition
Research method for testing different assumptions(hypotheses)
by trial and error under conditionsconstructed and controlled by
the researcher. During the experiment, one or more conditions
(called independent variables) are allowed to change in an organized manner
and the effects of these changes on associated conditions (called dependent
variables) is measured, recorded, validated, and analyzed for arriving at a
conclusion.

An observation made or procedure carried out for scientific purposes under conditions
that are controlled as far as possible by the experimenter. Experiments are conducted
to formulate and test hypotheses. In a classical experiment (sometimes called a single
factor experiment) only one condition, called the independent variable, is
manipulated at any given time to determine its influence on a dependent variable
(compare multifactorial study). Most experiments in sports science are conducted on
human subjects whose behaviour and physiological functions are affected by many
factors, therefore it is imperative that a strict protocol is adopted for the
experiment.

Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/experiment#ixzz1HFYkrG7Z

Overview

Experiment is the step in the scientific method that arbitrates between

competing models or hypotheses.[4][5] Experimentation is also used to test
existing theories or new hypotheses in order to support them or disprove them. [6][7] An
experiment or test can be carried out using the scientific method to answer a
question or investigate a problem. First an observation is made. Then a question is
asked, or a problem arises. Next, a hypothesis is formed. Then experiment is used to
test that hypothesis. The results are analyzed, a conclusion is drawn, sometimes a
theory is formed, and results are communicated through research papers.

A good experiment usually tests a hypothesis. However, an experiment may also test
a question or test previous results. It is important that one knows all factors in an
experiment. It is also important that the results are as accurate as possible. If an
experiment is carefully conducted, the results usually either support or disprove the
hypothesis. An experiment can never "prove" a hypothesis, it can only add support.
However, one repeatable experiment that provides a counterexample can disprove a
theory or hypothesis. An experiment must also control the possible confounding
factors -- any factors that would mar the accuracy or repeatability of the experiment
or the ability to interpret the results.

Francis Bacon was an English philosopher and scientist in the 17th century and an

early and influential supporter of experimental science. He disagreed with the
method of answering scientific questions by deduction and described it as follows:
“Having first determined the question according to his will, man then resorts to
experience, and bending her to conformity with his placets, leads her about like a
captive in a procession.”[8] Bacon wanted a method that relied on repeatable
observations, or experiments. He was notably the first to order the scientific
method as we understand it today.

There remains simple experience; which, if taken as it comes, is called accident, if

sought for, experiment. The true method of experience first lights the candle
[hypothesis], and then by means of the candle shows the way [arranges and delimits
the experiment]; commencing as it does with experience duly ordered and digested,
not bungling or erratic, and from it deducing axioms [theories], and from established
axioms again new experiments.
 – Francis Bacon. Novum Organum. 1620.[9]

Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/experiment#ixzz1HFZESKcM

Hypothesis
Top

In empirical research, assertion made about some property of elements being studied.
Such an assumption is made early in the investigation, guiding the investigator in
searching for supporting data. The hypothesis is found to be true or false at the
conclusion of the research study, depending on whether or not the proposed property
actually characterizes the elements.

Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/hypothesis#ixzz1HFZetxbD

Hypothesis
Top

A tentative supposition with regard to an unknown state of affairs, the truth of which

is thereupon subject to investigation by any available method, either by
logical deduction of consequences which may be checked against what is known, or by
direct experimental investigation or discovery of facts not hitherto known and
suggested by the hypothesis.

Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/hypothesis#ixzz1HFZk206V