key science skills

Question 1

accuracy

Answer 1

how close measured values are to their true value

Question 2

precision

Answer 2

how close measured values are to each other

Question 3

reliability

Answer 3

experiment is able to produce consistent results even within varying conditions

Question 4

validity

Answer 4

whether or not the experiment and its components is suitable to address the aim and hypothesis of the research (is the experiment testing what it is supposed to be testing?)

Question 5

reproducibility

Answer 5

closeness of results from repeated experiments using the same method under different conditions

Question 6

repeatability

Answer 6

closeness of results obtained using the same method, materials and under the same conditions

Question 7

systematic error

Answer 7

error in measurement by the same amount/proportion in the same direction every time which also includes errors that are inherent in the experiment (reduces accuracy of results)

Question 8

random error

Answer 8

error in measurement that differs in amount/proportion each time the experiment is conducted and is usually a one off error (reduces precision of results)