First Quiz Terms Flashcards
Hypothesis
a tentative explanation for one or more observations
Controlled Experiment
an experiment which has two identical groups, except one has a variable. Thus, a researcher can observe how the variable alters the results
Experimental Group
the group in a controlled experiment with the variable
Control Group
the group in a controlled experiment without the variable
Independent Variable
the variable that is manipulated to test the hypothesis
Dependent Variable
expected to vary based on the independent variable
Negative Control
a group that controls for potential extra variables—should not have any response to the test
ex: in a test to see how the medication works, you give one group a dummy pill that doesn’t have effects to control for the placebo effect
Positive Control
a group that receives a variable with a known result. Used to detect any problems with the experiment.
ex: in a test for how exercise affects heart rate, you’d give a group of people caffeine to see if it rises as expected
Quantitative Data
data expressed numerically
Qualitative Data
descriptive data (based on judgement)
Null Hypothesis
a prediction that the variable in a test will have no effect
Experimental Hypothesis
a prediction that the variable will have an effect
Mean
average
Median
number in the middle of a data set
Mode
most frequently occurring
