What dose scientific inquiry refer to?

A scientific inquiry would involve taking precise measurements and recording details.

There were two butterfly collections. One had far more butterflies. They had a far more beautiful display.

The other collection had fewer. Each butterfly was labeled with the place of capture, the date, time of day, the temperature, a description of the area, and if it had been feeding on a particular plant, the name of the plant. The second collection won the prize.