RMT General Flashcards
What is meant by a null hypothesis?
The null hypothesis H0 is that any observed changes in behaviour are due to chance
What is Occam’s razor?
Among competing hypotheses, the one with the fewest assumptions should be selected.
“Entities should not be multiplied without cause”
What is the theoretical justification for Occam’s razor?
Select the simplest hypothesis which is compatible with observations
the preference for simplicity in the scientific method is based on the falsifiability criterion. For each accepted explanation of a phenomenon, there may be an extremely large, perhaps even incomprehensible, number of possible and more complex alternatives, because one can always burden failing explanations with ad hoc hypotheses to prevent them from being falsified; therefore, simpler theories are preferable to more complex ones because they are more testable.
What is the definition of the Scientific method?
The scientific method is the process by which scientists, collectively and over time, endeavor to construct an accurate (that is, reliable, consistent and non-arbitrary) representation of the world.
What are the four steps of the Scientific method?
- Observation and description of a phenomenon or group of phenomena.
- Formulation of a hypothesis to explain the phenomena. In physics, the hypothesis often takes the form of a causal mechanism or a mathematical relation.
- Use of the hypothesis to predict the existence of other phenomena, or to predict quantitatively the results of new observations.
- Performance of experimental tests of the predictions by several independent experimenters and properly performed experiments.
Name 3 Common Mistakes in Applying the Scientific Method
- Bias - the scientist may have a preference for one outcome or another.
- Ignore or rule out data which do not support the hypothesis
- failure to estimate quantitatively systematic errors (and all errors)
Name the 3 types of experimental variable
Independent Variables Dependant Variables Confounding Variables Extraneous Variables Control Variables
give a definition and an example of an epistemological break
The moment of rupture separating science from its non-scientific past. After the rupture the non-scientific past comes to be seen as so much superstition. In this way, the history of science is understood not so much a process of discovery as the overcoming of the obstacles to thought posed by knowledge itself. It thus entails not simply the addition of new knowledge, but the reorganization of the very possibility of knowledge. It changes the conditions of what is and can be known.
Physics /Astronomy - Galileo
give a definition and an example of a paradigm shift
a fundamental change in the basic concepts and experimental practices of a scientific discipline. Kuhn contrasted these shifts, which characterize a scientific revolution, to the activity of normal science, which he described as scientific work done within a prevailing framework (or paradigm)
example: Mercury deviates from the precession predicted from Newtonian effects. This anomalous rate of precession of the perihelion of Mercury’s orbit was first recognized in 1859 as a problem in celestial mechanics.
In general relativity, this remaining precession, or change of orientation of the orbital ellipse within its orbital plane, is explained by gravitation being mediated by the curvature of spacetime. Einstein showed that general relativity[2] agrees closely with the observed amount of perihelion shift. This was a powerful factor motivating the adoption of general relativity.
Define Independent Variable
An independent variable is a variable that is manipulated to determine the value of a dependent variable s
Define Dependant Variable
the dependent variable is changed in response to changes in the independent variables.
Confounding Variable
Experimental Variables which effect the Independent Variables and Dependant Variables and make it impossible to discern the effect of the Independent Variables.
Extraneous Variable
Extraneous variable are undesirable variables that you are not intentionally studying in your experiment or test.
Control Variables
A control variable is the one element that is not changed throughout an experiment, because its unchanging state allows the relationship between the other variables being tested to be better understood.
What are the three main aspects of the scientific method?
investigating phenomena
acquiring new knowledge
correcting and integrating previous knowledge
What makes are the properties of a good Hypothesis?
- is the simplest, while being
- consistent with prior observations
- consistent with subsequent experimental
outcomes.
What are the limits of the Scientific Method?
The scientific method works best in situations
where one can isolate the phenomenon of
interest. Not working in circumstances, such as:
when one cannot isolate the phenomena; or
when one cannot repeat the measurement over
and over again;
Define modelling
A scientific model is a way for predicting
how part of reality will behave.
What are the Key Principals of Modelling?
Generation of testable predictions
Elegance or simplicity
Define what is meant by logico-deductive
Because a model is logico-deductive, you can
deduce that situations could exist in the world
which have never been observed.
