The scientific method is: a. the use of controlled laboratory experiments to understand the way the world works. b. the dispassionate development and testing of theories about how the world works. c. the use of modern technology to understand the way the world works. d. the search for evidence to support preconceived theories about how the world works.

The correct answer is b. The scientific method is the dispassionate development and testing of theories about how the world works.

Explanation:

The scientific method is a research method used mainly in the production of knowledge in the sciences, that is, it is a process intended to explain phenomena, establish relationships between facts and state laws that explain the physical phenomena of the world. To be called a scientist, it must be subject to the specific principles of reasoning tests. Scientific reasoning constitutes a strict process of deduction, a process from which imagination and intuitive thinking are excluded.  

The scientific method uses defining methods, classification methods, statistical methods, hypothetical-deductive methods, measurement procedures, etc. According to this, to refer to the scientific method is to refer to this set of tactics used to constitute knowledge, subject to historical evolution, and which could eventually be others in the future.