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Asked by clairep225 to David, Luna, Mark, Melanie, Probash on 23 Mar 2011 in Categories: General.
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David Pyle answered on 23 Mar 2011:
Theory is useful when it is an attempt to explain a set of observations, using simple (or established) physical laws, or a set of justifiable assumptions. A useful theory should (a) fit current observations and (b) make predictions which can be tested, or suggest further sets of observations which are needed to see that the theory is valid when it is extended. Theories which don’t make use of observations; or which aren’t testable may well be very interesting, but may also be of very little use.
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Luna Munoz answered on 23 Mar 2011:
This is a great question! It makes you think!! A theory is an explanation or a way of describing something. Based on theory, I build questions or hypotheses about what will happen. If I were to base my hypotheses on anything other than theory before doing an experiment, I will have not contributed to science in a meaningful way. For example, I could look at the effect of eating ice cream on the probability of shark attacks, but without a theory, the results would not mean anything. Of course, you could offer a theory after you observe something. So, you observe that in places where people eat a lot of ice cream, there are more shark attacks. You may then theorize that warm weather causes people to eat ice cream and to swim in the ocean where there are sharks. But that theory would need to be tested, since you did not design your original study with the intention of seeing if this theory would be supported. I hope that makes sense.
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