Editors and Reporters: The Scientific Method Is the Basic Method of Investigative Reporting
The scientific method (SM-14) is a basic guide to originating, refining, extending, and applying knowledge in all fields. This is essentially the objective of information reporting. SM-14 is not a method for trite or formula stories. It is a flexible method with no rigid steps or rules. It calls for creative, in-depth reporting and scholarly investigation, which can provide readers with solutions to problems, not just stories concerning the problem.
This explains the use of the stages and ingredients of SM-14 for story and investigative reporting.
Curious observation (stage 1). Most stories originate in curious observation. You develop your senses of seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling, and tasting to find news. Read other periodicals extensively; listen. Creativity and curious observation are used in every stage.
Is there a problem? (stage 2). Having found or been assigned a newsworthy problem that needs reporting or investigating, you must analyze it thoroughly and then define it.
Goals and planning (stage 3). Set your goals and plan how to reach them. Plan along the lines of the old guides of who, what, where, why, how, and when. Meet deadlines.
Search, explore, and gather the evidence (stage 4). Get all the information, not relying on rumor. Look for various angles, leads, differences, or suprise discoveries. Utilize all resources. Challenge all “facts.” Ask experts and others the right questions. Make notes.
Generate creative and logical alternative solutions (stage 5). While searching, load your mind; then watch for rest-illumination, gradual insight, or illumination triggered by reading or other activities. Use imaginative, skeptical, reflective thinking.
Evaluate the evidence (stage 6). Now start to whip your story into shape. Evaluate and recognize pertinent, important, and unusual data. Need more data? Check for accuracy.
Make the educated guess (stage 7). Put the beginning, middle, and end of your story into working shape in a form that the public can understand.
Challenge the hypothesis (stage 
. Hold on! There are libel suits and critical chief editors to be dealt with. Challenge, review, and polish your story so that everything is in order.
Reach a conclusion (stage 9). You challenged all phases of your story. If necessary, you’ve backtracked and modified. You then reach a conclusion that your story is okay and that you’re helping readers attain real world smarts.
Suspend judgment (stage 10). Conceit and bias have no place in reporting. You tried hard, but keep an open mind about your conclusions. Others will be challenging you!
Take action (stage 11). Finally, you are ready to submit your story for review or to go to press with it. Acceptance will be easier if you followed SM-14.
Supporting ingredients (12, 13, 14). Creative, non-logical, logical, and technical methods (12) are all used in reporting, as are procedural principles and theories (13) and attributes and thinking skills (14).
