THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD, AS PRESENTED IN SECONDARY AND COLLEGE TEXTBOOKS, IS COMPARED WITH THAT DESCRIBED BY SCIENTISTS. TEN TEXTBOOKS WERE RANDOMLY SELECTED FROM THOSE AVAILABLE FOR GRADES 7 THROUGH 9, 10 THROUGH 12, AND 13 AND 14. FORTY SCIENTISTS WERE RANDOMLY SELECTED FROM THE COMBINED MEMBERSHIPS OF A LEARNED SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY AND THREE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETIES. THE SCIENTISTS' CONCEPTIONS OF THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD WERE OBTAINED FROM AVAILABLE PUBLICATIONS AND PERSONAL COMMUNICATIONS. A LITERATURE SURVEY WAS USED TO IDENTIFY FIVE ELEMENTS FUNDAMENTAL TO THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD--CAUSATION, CLASSIFICATION, CONSENSUS, EXPERIMENTATION, AND OBSERVATION. THE SCIENTISTS AND THE TEXTBOOKS WRITERS AGREED STRONGLY ON THE IMPORTANCE OF EXPERIMENTATION AND OBSERVATION. HOWEVER, THE SCIENTISTS DIFFERENTIATED DISTINCTLY BETWEEN SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY AND THE PRESENTATION OF SCIENCE, WHILE THE TEXTBOOK WRITERS OFTEN CONFUSED THE ORGANIZATION OF A PRESENTATION WITH THE LOGIC OF DISCOVERY. THE SCIENTISTS EMPHASIZED DIVERSITY, DESCRIBING SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION AS FLEXIBLE AND DYNAMIC. TEXTBOOK AUTHORS, ON THE OTHER HAND, EMPHASIZED UNIFORMITY IN THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD, TYPICALLY DESCRIBING A SERIES OF RIGID STEPS TO BE FOLLOWED IN SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION. THIS DOCUMENT IS AVAILABLE AS 65-350 FROM UNIVERSITY MICROFILMS, INC., ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN 48106. (AG)