quantitative investigation of vairation

Question 1

define interspecific variation

Answer 1

variation between different species

Question 2

define intraspecific variation

Answer 2

variation within a species

Question 3

define bias in terms of population

Answer 3

a sample is biased if it does not represent the whole population

Question 4

when doing quantitative investigation of variation how does the method minimise the impact of chance

Answer 4

• large sample size

(reduces probability that chance will affect results
reduces effect of anomalies
increases reliability of data so it is more representative of the population)

• statistical analysis of data

Question 5

how do you calculate the mean

Answer 5

total of all values/ number of values

Question 6

define mode

Answer 6

single value that occurs the most often

Question 7

define median

Answer 7

middle value in set of data

Question 8

define standard deviation

Answer 8

spread of values about the mean

Question 9

what does an error bar mean in terms of standard deivation

Answer 9

smaller the error ball the smaller the standard deviation

Question 10

what can you use the standard deviation to do on a graph

Answer 10

use standard deviation to draw error bars

Question 11

define hierarchy (hierarchal system)

Answer 11

a system in which larger groups contain smaller groups with no overlap between groups.