Observation

The Scientific Method has several parts to it, but as I’ve mentioned before, my favorite is the first step: Observation. Observation has a wholeness unto itself and is least likely to cause any harm, such as that to rodents, cats, primates, and rabbits in the lab. Observation encourages us not to take actions without drawing conclusions from direct intake of data through our own senses. Traditionally we associate observation with the eyes, with the visual sense. But an expanded definition would be experiencing phenomena via any of the senses – hearing or taste, touch or smell. Many of our early great scientists were primarily observers: observers of the sky, observers of animal behavior in the wild, observers of the weather.

 

(One consideration about observation is that it is usually an interaction. The data is not just from the subject being observed. The presence and interest and equipment of the observer(s) coexist with and affect what is happening.)

 

For about a decade, approximately the 1990s, I recorded data about my own backyard. What insects, birds, mammals caught my attention, weather changes, temperature highs and lows from the outdoor thermometer, how much rain was in the gauge we kept out front. Using field guides, I learned the names of dozens of plants and birds native to our rural 1.6 acres. We were fortunate to have a good view of an expanse of sky, and could follow the yearly wheeling of the constellations through the night sky, which planets were out, which stars remained relatively stationary (ie, the North Star).

 

Many changes have occurred in the past decade, and I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to observe the graceful networking of nature in the past, and to observe now, to have some understanding of those changes.