The tracing of things to their source, and the resolving of knowledge into its original principles.

A brief, methodical illustration of the principles of a science. In this sense it is nearly synonymous with synopsis.

The scientific method which passes from the concrete to the abstract, from the complex to the simple, from the particular to the universal, from the application of a principle to the principle itself, from the phenomena to the underlying general law, from the effects to the cause. Synonym: A posteriori method.

a social scientific technique which studies a population that shares common characteristics, over time. Cohort analysis usually begins at birth and traces the development of cohort members until they reach a certain age.

a fabrication without scientific merit

a scientific and therefore unbiased procedure, providing useful evidence for the prosecution as well as the defense

proof of a scientific statement by examining, assuming and deducing by a series of reversible steps