Science Flashcards
What is Generality?
A theory is general if it applies in a broad range of contexts and explains a broad range of phenomena.
What is predictivity?
A theory is predictive if it accurately predicts observed data. This predictivity is particularly valuable in situations where other theories fail to predict the same data.
What is Simplicity?
Scientists value simple theories over complex theories, a principle which is often termed Occam’s razor.
Why is generality valued?
Scientists value general theories because they tend to identify more fundamental aspects of nature, as well as having more widespread practical applications.
Why is predicitivity valued?
Predictivity is valued because it suggests that the theory provides an accurate model of the world, and because predictive theories are useful for real-world decision-making.
Why is simplicity valued?
This principle has practical advantages: it makes theories easier to reason about, easier to test, and easier to communicate to others. There are also some deep mathematical reasons why one should, all else aside, prefer simpler theories
What is Reductivity?
Scientists believe that all natural phenomena can ultimately be explained by breaking them down into their constituent parts
What is objectivity?
A piece of evidence is objective if it is independent of the subjective biases of the researcher. Conversely, a piece of evidence is subjective if it depends substantially on a researcher’s personal judgements, feelings or experiences.
What is replicability?
A piece of evidence is replicable if it can be recreated by other researchers using analogous methods.
What does one mean by theoretical impact?
A piece of evidence has high theoretical impact to the extent that it helps (a) to distinguish between competing scientific theories, or (b) to generate new scientific theories
What is a measurement?
The process of generating scientific evidence begins with measurement. To measure something means to perform an observation according to a standardised procedure that returns a basic piece of data such as a number
What is quantitative analysis?
In order to generate meaningful insights from measured data, scientists rely heavily on quantitative analysis techniques.
These are analysis techniques that take basic pieces of data, and return summaries of this data, ranging from basic descriptive statistics to advanced relational statistics -Importantly, these analysis techniques are designed to be objective, in that they minimise the subjective role of the experimenter who interprets the results.
