The scientific method is the process by which scientists, collectively and over time, endeavor to construct an accurate (that is, reliable, consistent and non-arbitrary) representation of the world. Recognizing that personal and cultural beliefs influence both our perceptions and our interpretations of natural phenomena, we aim through the use of standard procedures and criteria to minimize those influences when developing a theory. The scientific method has four steps: 1) Observation and description of a phenomenon or group of phenomena; 2) Formulation of an hypothesis to explain the phenomena; 3) Use of the hypothesis to predict the existence of other phenomena, or to predict quantitatively the results of new observations; 4) Performance of experimental tests of the predictions by several independent experimenters and properly performed experiments.