Final answer:
When testing theories, three main issues must be considered: consistency with data and other theories, testability through experiments, and refutability and revision based on experimental results.
Step-by-step explanation:
When testing the theories we have formed, three main issues must be taken into account:
- Consistency with data and other theories: General theories must be consistent with most or all available data and with other current theories.
- Testability: A hypothesis must be a proposed explanation that can be tested through experiments. The results of the experiments should either agree with the predictions of the hypothesis or contradict it.
- Refutability and revision: Scientists must be willing to discard a hypothesis and develop an alternative if the experimental results are inconsistent with the hypothesis. However, if multiple experiments agree with the hypothesis, it becomes more likely to be accepted as a useful description of nature.