• History of soil geography in the context of scale

    Categories of cartographic scale correspond to the selection of environmental soil predictors used to initially create historical soil maps. Paradigm shifts in soil mapping and classification can be best explained by not only their correlation to historical improvements in scientific understanding, but also by differences in purpose for mapping, and due to advancements in geographic technology. Although the hierarchy of phenomena scales observed in this study is generally known in pedology today, it also represents a new view on the evolution of soil science. Read More

  • The Cycle of Science

    In an earlier post I contrasted induction and deduction while suggesting that induction is the currently… Read More

  • Is It ‘Deduction’ or ‘Induction’, My Dear Watson?

    Sherlock Holmes often talks about ‘deductive reasoning’ but was he really using deduction or induction? Although by definition these two approaches appear to be opposites,… Read More

  • Is It a Scientific Theory or Hypothesis?

    This is a common question addressing a popular misconception about how science classifies the knowledge that it has accumulated. The levels of hypothesis to theory… Read More

  • The Scientific Method: Does Anybody Really Use It?

    It can be hard to match what we learned about the scientific method in school with the scientific literature being published. There are a variety… Read More

  • What is Science?

    For my first blog post, it makes sense to start with the basics. And one of the most fundamental concepts for a researcher to establish… Read More