Key Science skills Flashcards
What is involved when planning and designing an investigation?
- Constructing a relevant research question and Aim
- Identifying variables
- Forming a hypothesis
- Designing a repeatable, reproducible and valid method
- Following ethical and safety guidlines
What three things need to be ticked off as a research question
Needs to be testable, achievable and specific
Example- Does the amount of watering affect the germination rate of golden nugget pumpkin
What is an aim?
The PURPOSE OF UR INVESTIGATION
Whats a tip you could use to write ur aim
Just turn your question into a statement
( test ur STATEMENT )
Usually starts with “To”
Example- To test if increasing the amount of watering affects the rate of golden nugget pumpkin seeds germination.
What is independant and dependant varibale
Independant: The factor(s) being manipulated in an experiment
eg. Amount of water
Dependant; The factor(s) being measured in an experiment as Independant is changed
eg. Time taken in days for germination
What is the controlled variable?
It is the factors that being kept constant throughout the experiment to ensure that they stay fair.
Like the type of seed, light, temp.
What is a extraneous varibale also known as and what is it
Uncontrolled variable
A factor that is not kept constant or is not accounted for that affects the dependant variable.
What is a hypothesis
Discuss that you believe that your INDEPENDANT VARIABLE will affect your DEPENDANT VARIABLE in a certain way
Example structure : “ IF (change in IV) then ( CHange in DV)”
How to keep the method repeatabl, reproducible and valid.
- Identify ur experimental and control groups
- replicate ur experimental and blah blah
- Collect a representative unbiased sample
- Reduce as much error
- Write the method very clearly
- Comply with the safety and ethics guidelines
What is a negative control group?
And what should you expect for the result of these
They are samples that is not exposed to the independant varible.
Should expect no results
Why are negative contol groups used and what happens if there is a result
It is good to assure reliabliltiy and to compare with the experimental groups
If there is result that means there is uncontrolled variable that is affecting the dependant variable, which means the experiment is not valid (RELIABLE NUPPP)
What is a positive control group?
A sample where you would expect to see results, where u apply a affect u know very well will affect the dependant variable
eg. Apllying tons of bacteria on purpose on the petri dish to see if theres a problem wit the agar.
What are the three types of errors and explain them
1. Personal erros: Someone messed up and can be fixed by redoing experiment and being careful
2. Systematic errors: Errors that cause ur result to be different to the true value which reduces the accuracy of the results. Can be fixed by calibrating equipment, repeating experiment btw wont do shit.
3. Random erros: Caused unpredicatbly which reduces the presicion of the results.
What should you include when graphing numerical data
- Draw axes on graph
- A VERYYYY specific title for your graph
- VERY specific label axes with units(ml/kg/cm/v)
- Include a consistent scale
- Draw a line or curve of best fit
- Draw tick marks on axes
What 4 key aspects should be in the para
HOW do you analyse graphs or tables?
- Describe the general trend( including a explanation of the dependant variiable changing cause of IV)
- Describing key features by mentioning data shown
- When there is more than one data given ( like the control groups) then make a comparative statwment ( like whereas or In comparision)
- State if results alighed with or not with hypothesis
A
What does accuracy mean?
It refers to how close the results are to the truth
look at the average to help check
What is precsion mean
Refers to how similar the results are to each other
check ther number difference between data sets
What is reproducibility?
It is when the experiment is repeated by different experimenter using the same equipment and method.
What is validity?
Masure what we are suppose to measure
What are some limitations to an experiment?
- Lack of time
- Too small of a sample size
- Bias in researcher
4.Limited tempreature range
5.No control groups used
What are somethings to ensure the experiment is more valid
Repeating experiment more times
Envioment is not changed in experiment/ regulated
Same amount of sum used
Size of test tubes
How would you adress outliers and what cuased them?
To adress them, additonal experiemnts need to be done under the same conditions to ensure that the outlier is not true.
It could be caused by systematic errors, like calbirating
or random error
What does reliability refer to?
Refers to wether an experiment can be repeated and produce the same results
How to improve reliability in ur expeirment
sEARCh
What does averaging data do?
-Averaging data improves accuracy by reducing the effect/impact of random or personal/human error
