Old Exam Flashcards
Which of the following claims about observations are true? Mark all correct options.
a) Operationalizations are not needed when phenomena are observed indirectly.
b) Direct observations can be aided.
c) Strictly speaking, if you are using glasses or contact lenses you are doing aided observations.
d) In successful indirect observations you are observing an event causally connected to the feature of interest, rather than the feature of interest itself.
Answer: b), c), d)
In what ways do qualitative and quantitative data differ? Mark all correct options.
a) Large quantitative data sets are easier to summarize than large qualitative data sets.
b) When evaluating qualitative data one should not aim to classify it as true or false, instead it should be classified as “believable” or “narratively coherent”.
c) Qualitative data is rarely measurable on interval or ratio scales, and therefore there is often no need to specify a unit.
d) When collecting quantitative data, one typically focuses on a few properties, qualitative data on the other hand captures a broad range of properties
Answer: a), c), d)
What is true about utilitarianism? Mark all correct options. According to utilitarians…
a) … it is less important that one acts morally, as compared to having a moral character.
b) … saving ten people by killing five people could be morally right, everything else being equal.
c) … an action can be deemed morally right or wrong, regardless of its consequences.
d) … the morally valuable property is utility, usually characterized as happiness.
Answer: b), d)
Which of the following are necessary features of scientific experiments? Mark all correct options.
a) That the hypothesis tested is based on previous research.
b) An effect that can be measured on an interval scale.
c) That the intervention is not done on a representation of a variable, but instead a variable that is actually present.
d) That no auxiliary assumption can be the true reason for a falsifying result, in an experiment.
Answer: c)
What is true regarding the virtues of models? Mark all correct options.
a) When comparing two models, valuing precision means choosing the one whose parameter specifications imply the parameter specifications of the other.
b) Having the virtue theoretical tractability means that the model can, in a scientifically meaningful way, be processed by a scientific theory.
c) Transparency means that a model follows from a scientific theory.
d) If the model result is not changed when one of the assumptions are changed, then we can conclude that the model has the virtue simplicity.
Answer: a), b)
What are necessary conditions for a good operationalization? Mark all correct options.
a) The observable property and the property of interest must be connected in a sufficiently stable way.
b) The observable property and the property of interest must be connected in a valid way, to our best knowledge.
c) Given the practical context, the observation of the observable property must be sufficiently precise.
d) The operationalization must be used to define the property of interest.
Answer: a), b), c)
What is true regarding the steps taken in the methodology of design? Mark all correct options.
a) One step – validation – is showing that it fulfils the functional requirements.
b) The methodology of the natural science and the methodology of design consist of the same steps.
c) One step requires that one aims for satisficing by looking for the design that maximizes a certain design function.
d) One step – validation – is identifying a possible physical description.
Answer: a)
One part of the classical definition of knowledge concerns belief. What is true regarding the concept of belief? Mark all correct options.
a) Beliefs can be more or less justified.
b) A person can believe something that is false.
c) There are no degrees when it comes to belief, a person either believes something with certainty or not at all.
d) Beliefs are personal – they are something that a person has.
Answer: a), b), d)
What is the relationship between scientific methods and methodology? Mark all correct options.
a) When ordinary methods fail to provide observational data, methodology can do so instead.
b) A number of methods in a given scientific discipline can be said to jointly constitute the methodology of that discipline.
c) Methodology is a way to justify why you do science in a certain way and not in another - methods is how you do it.
d) The basis for methodological reasoning is to determine what a proper argument for the selection of a method would be.
Answer: c), d)
What is true of learning from models as analogies? Mark all correct options.
a) By referencing the positive analogies, we can justify the use of negative analogies.
b) By referencing the positive analogies, we can justify the use of neutral analogies.
c) Knowledge of a negative analogy is when we know that something is different between the model and the target.
d) If we do not know if something is true for both model and target, then it is a positive analogy.
Answer: b), c)
What is true about falsifiable statements? Mark all correct options. A falsifiable statement…
a) … might be false.
b) … might be true.
c) … can be about something that is not directly observable, but will still be testable.
d) … is either true or false, but not both.
Answer: a), b), c), d)
Which claims are true of Fisher’s significance testing? Mark all correct options.
a) When using Fisher’s significance testing, the only conclusion we can be certain in is the rejection of the hypothesis.
b) By changing the study design, and by changing the partition of possible outcomes, the result of Fisher’s significance testing can be influenced.
c) In Fisher’s significance testing, the p-value is independent of the tested hypothesis.
d) The test hypothesis and the null hypothesis are always tested by Fisher’s significance test.
Answer: a), b)
What is true regarding explanatory virtues (what makes explanations powerful)? Mark all correct options.
a) Being less sensitive to background causes than another explanation means that the explanation is more powerful than the other.
b) The contributing causes that are underlying the explanandum should be identified in the explanans.
c) When an explanation is easy to understand, it can be said that the explanandum is precise.
d) Precision in the explanans is measured by the extent to which an explanans references the actual causes of the event to be explained.
Answer: a), b)
What is an ad hoc hypothesis? Mark all correct options.
a) It is when you change a theory so that it is incompatible with empirical data.
b) A consequence of ad hoc hypotheses is an increase in falsifiability.
c) A consequence of ad hoc modifications is a decrease in falsifiability.
d) It is a change C of a theory T resulting in an updated version T’ such that C attempts to include some observations so that T is saved from being falsified.
Answer: c), d)
Which of the following claims about experiments and observational studies are correct? Mark all correct options
a) In experiments, one always successfully controls all relevant variables; in observational studies one does not control all relevant variables.
b) In an observational study, one does not intervene.
c) One can perform an experiment in a natural environment.
d) Inferences drawn from experiments and observational studies can be equally justified.
Answer: b), c), d)
