Science Inquiry Flashcards
what are the ethics of planning an investigation
- Voluntary participation
- Informed consent
- Risk of harm
- Confidentiality
- Anonymity
what is the safety of planning an investigation
- Risks involved
- safety equipment required
- physical and emotional
what is a placebo
- used to test the effectiveness of medical treatments
- Inactive substance that looks like the real treatment and is administered in the same manner
what group is the placebo given to
the controlled group
what is a single-blind experiment
- occurs when information is withheld from the participant as the researcher knows all the facts
what is a double-blind experiment
- neither the participants nor researchers know who belongs to which group. Researchers identify each group by analysing the results
what is a hypothesis
- it is an “if-then” statement
- it includes the dependent and independent variable
what are the different variables
- independent: variable you change
- dependent: variable you measure
- controlled: variable you keep the same
what is validity
- an experiment is considered valid if it tests what is it meant to test.
- for an experiment to be considered valid it must control all variables, excluding the independent variable
- to have a valid experiment you must have reliable and accurate data
what is reliability
- refers to whether an experiment can be repeated by you or any other person who tries the experiment
- an experiment is reliable if it can be repeated with similar outcomes
how is accuracy improved
- by using the correct equipment
- ensuring the experiment is conducted by an individual with past experience
what are the different types of errors
- systematic error
- random error
- human error
what is a human error
is a mistake made during an experiment due to a lack of human ability or carelessness
what are random errors
are unpredictable errors and occur because no measurement is perfect
what is a systematic error
occurs because of the way in which an experiment is designed.
