Elena Castellani (Florence) gives a talk at the Workshop on "Why trust a Theory?" (7-9 December, 2015) titled "Scientific Methodology: A View from Early String Theory". Abstract: Looking at the developments of quantum field theory and string theory since their very beginnings, it does not seem that the methodology in fundamental physics has changed. The same strategies are applied in theory building and assessment. The methodology leading to the string idea and its successive developments is the same one we can find in many fundamental developments in theoretical physics. These have been crowned with successful empirical confirmation (sometimes, after a number of years): starting with the history of the positron to arrive at the Higgs particle.