Midterm Flashcards
What are the six steps to the scientific method?
- Observations
- Causal questions
- Hypotheses
- Hypotheses Testing
- Prediction
- Conclusion
Why Use The Classic Scientific Method?
- Logical and explicit
- Not complicated
- Applicable to every branch of science
- Highly successful in the past
How do we decided if the claims are believable?
- Evaluate the evidence
- Evaluate conflicting interests
- Considers non-biased experts
- Determines effects of action vs non-action
What is a scientific argument?
is when you use reasoning to provide support for a conclusion
What is in a scientific Argument?
- supporting reasons also known as a premise
- One or more premises are used for support
What words do premises often use?
-Since
-The reason being
- Because
Due to the fact that
What words do conclusions use?
- Thus
- Therefore
- Consequently
- As a result
What should arguments contain?
- At least one premise and one conclusion
what is inductive reasoning?
- Not an explicit use of a hypothesis
- Creates a generalization from a sample
- Maybe a primary source of a hypotheses
- NOT truth-preserving
What is Hypo-deductive reasoning?
- Involves a hypothesis
- Is used to produce a prediction
- If well stated…could lead to a valid conclusion (in this case it’s the prediction)
- IS truth preserving
When is an abductive argument used?
when you compare results and predictions to determine weather an explanation has support or not.
What is an abductive argument?
- Consistent with the scientific method
- Based on assessing evidence against predictions to judge utility of hypotheses
- Retains a chance of incorrectness
What is the objective view of the world?
- That there is definitive properties of the universe we live in
- Our ability to perceive and describe these properties are limited by our senses
- There is always a chance that we have it wrong
What are scientific implications?
- That nothing is know with absolute certainty
- Scientific knowledge is not a cultural construct and is open to revision if we get new/better data
What constitutes a well designed test?
- Is relevant to the hypothesis
- Has a clearly defined response variable
- Controlled
- Replicates
- Practical and ethical
