Thescholarly method orscholarship is the body ofprinciples andpractices used byscholars andacademics to make their claims about their subjects of expertise as valid and trustworthy as possible, and to make them known to the scholarly public. It comprises the methods that systemically advance theteaching,research, andpractice of a scholarly or academic field of study throughrigorous inquiry. Scholarship is creative, can be documented, can be replicated or elaborated, and can be and ispeer reviewed through various methods.^[1] The scholarly method includes the subcategories of thescientific method, with which scientists bolster their claims, and thehistorical method, with which historians verify their claims.^[2]

Thehistorical method comprises the techniques and guidelines by whichhistorians researchprimary sources and other evidence, and thenwrite history. The question of the nature, and indeed the possibility, of sound historical method is raised in thephilosophy of history, as a question ofepistemology. History guidelines commonly used by historians in their work require external criticism, internal criticism, andsynthesis.

Theempirical method is generally taken to mean the collection of data on which to base ahypothesis or derive a conclusion inscience. It is part of thescientific method, but is often mistakenly assumed to be synonymous with other methods. The empirical method is not sharply defined and is often contrasted with the precision of experiments, where data emerges from the systematic manipulation of variables. Theexperimental method investigatescausal relationships amongvariables. An experiment is a cornerstone of theempirical approach to acquiring data about the world and is used in bothnatural sciences andsocial sciences. An experiment can be used to help solve practical problems and to support or negatetheoretical assumptions.

The scientific method refers to a body of techniques for investigatingphenomena, acquiring newknowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge. To be termed scientific, a method ofinquiry must be based on gatheringobservable,empirical and measurableevidence subject to specific principles ofreasoning.^[3] A scientific method consists of the collection ofdata throughobservation and experimentation, and the formulation and testing of hypotheses.^[4]