Science: The Scientific Method and Society

Question 1

Authority

Answer 1

There are no authorities in science.

An authority in science, what they say is law and they don’t communicate their findings with the science community.

Question 2

Bias

Answer 2

A preference for one thing over another, especially an unfair one.

Question 3

Bioinformatics

Answer 3

Information technology as applied to the life sciences, especially the technology used for the collection and analysis of genomic data.

Question 4

Biology

Answer 4

The study of life.

Question 5

Cause/Effect

Answer 5

Noting a relationship between actions and events such that one or more are the result of the other or others.

Question 6

Confidence Interval

Answer 6

The confidence interval can take any number of probabilities, with the most common being 95% or 99%.

Question 7

Control Group

Answer 7

A group of subjects closely resembling the treatment group in many demographic variables but not receiving the active medication or factor under study and thereby serving as a comparison group when treatment results are evaluated.

Question 8

Controlled Experiment

Answer 8

An experiment that isolates the effect of one variable on a system by holding constant all variables but the one under observation.

Question 9

Controlled Variables

Answer 9

Any factors that you want to remain the same between the treatments in your experiment are controlled variables.

Question 10

Deductive Reasoning

Answer 10

Scientists interpret the results of their experiments through deductive reasoning, using their specific observations to test their general hypothesis.

Reasoning from the general to the particular (or from cause to effect)

Question 11

Applied Science

Answer 11

A discipline of science that applies existing scientific knowledge to develop more practical applications, like technology or inventions.

Question 12

Dependent variable

Answer 12

The value that changes, depending on the changes you make in the “independent variable.”
It’s usually called “y,” while the independent variable is “x.”

Say you want to find out whether shoes can make you jump higher.
First you tie on a pair of Hi-Jumps (your independent variable) and see how high you jump (your dependent variable). Then you try a pair of Bouncy-Man hi-tops (independent variable) and again measure how high you jump (the dependent variable). The changing values of the dependent variable — how high you jump — presumably depend on the independent variable, the different brands of shoes.

Question 13

Discovery science

Answer 13

When scientists seek out and observe living things, they’re engaging in discovery science, studying the natural world and looking for patterns that lead to new, tentative explanations of how things work (these explanations are called hypotheses).

Question 14

Double-blind study

Answer 14

An experimental procedure in which neither the subjects of the experiment nor the persons administering the experiment know the critical aspects of the experiment

Question 15

Experimental group

Answer 15

The experimental group receives the experimental treatment; in other words, you vary one condition that might affect this group. The control group should be as similar as possible to your experimental group, but it shouldn’t receive the experimental treatment.

Question 16

Experimental science

Answer 16

Hypothesis-based science:
When scientists test their understanding of the world through experimentation, they’re engaging in hypothesis-based science, which usually calls for following some variation of a process called the scientific method (see the next section for more on this).

Modern biologists are using hypothesis-based science to try and understand many things, including the causes and potential cures of human diseases and how DNA controls the structure and function of living things.

Question 17

Expert

Answer 17

a person who has special skill or knowledge in some particular field; specialist; a language expert.

Question 18

Fact

Answer 18

A concept whose truth can be proved.

Scientific hypotheses are not facts.

Question 19

Falsifiable

Answer 19

Capable of being tested (verified or falsified) by experiment or observation.

Question 20

Hypothesis

Answer 20

In science, a hypothesis is an idea or explanation that you then test through study and experimentation.

A hypothesis is something more than a wild guess but less than a well-established theory.
In science, a hypothesis needs to go through a lot of testing through the scientific method, before it gets labeled a theory.

Question 21

Hypothetico-deductive

Answer 21

Of or relating to the testing of the consequences of hypotheses, to determine whether the hypotheses themselves are false or acceptable.

Question 22

Independent variable

Answer 22

A term used in math and statistics, is a variable you can manipulate, but it’s not dependent on the changes in other variables.
The independent variable is usually indicated by “x” and the “dependent variable” is “y.”

Say you have two puppies, both from the same litter, and you want to see if it matters what dog food you feed them. You feed Butch organic Mighty Pooch, and you feed Slim Frooty Loops for Dogs. The independent variable is the dog food, the variable you are changing. The dependent variables are the possible results you observe — the dogs’ weight gain, the glossiness of their coats, and whatever else you think might be a result of the dog food.

Question 23

Inductive reasoning

Answer 23

Reasoning from detailed facts to general principles.

Question 24

Inquiry

Answer 24

When you ask the guy behind the counter if they’ve got any aspirin, you’re making an inquiry.
Almost any search for information or knowledge is an inquiry, though an inquiry is often an official search. Though any question is, technically, an inquiry, that word is usually used to refer to an official or public search for the truth.
For instance, after a plane crash, the government launches an inquiry into the cause.
Politicians and government officials are often the ones who demand an inquiry when an important question needs to be answered, but a child can do the same thing. If your kid wants to know what’s for dinner, she can make an inquiry about it. She can also just — you know — ask.

Question 25

Junk science

Answer 25

Refers to inaccurate analysis and data that is used to skew opinion or push agenda.

Junk science may be used by a variety of people for a variety of purposes.
The best way to be able to identify junk science examples is to know who are the users, what are the popular topics, how was the information gathered and what was the source of the information.

Question 26

Knowledge

Answer 26

To have knowledge means to know or be aware of things.

Knowledge is understanding gained through learning or experience.
You read a recipe to gain knowledge about baking rhubarb pie. When it burns in the oven, experience gives you the knowledge that you need to stop doing three things at once. Fields like biology, math, art, medicine, and others have huge bodies of knowledge. Knowledge can mean information and also deeper understanding. You can use this word as a disclaimer too, as in “To my knowledge, my sister walked the dog.”

Question 27

Law

Answer 27

A generalization that describes recurring facts or events in nature.

Ex. Laws of thermodynamics.

Question 28

Mechanistic

Answer 28

Of or relating to the philosophy of mechanism, especially one that tends to explain phenomena only by reference to physical or biological causes.

Question 29

Model

Answer 29

A systematic description of an object or phenomenon that shares important characteristics with the object or phenomenon. Scientific models can be material, visual, mathematical, or computational and are often used in the construction of scientific theories.

Question 30

Null hypothesis

Answer 30

The simplistic definition is that the null hypothesis is the opposite of the hypothesis being tested.

The researcher suspects the hypothesis to be true (and thus is doing research to support the hypothesis), but the null hypothesis is the hypothesis the researcher tries to disprove.
The researcher never proves or accepts the null hypothesis, but can only reject it or not reject it.

Example:
Hypothesis: Roses exhibit greater rate of growth when planted in soil rather than compost.
Null Hypothesis: Roses do not exhibit greater rate of growth when planted in soil rather than compost.

Let’s say the researcher collects and analyzes the data, and the results are statistically significant at the 99% level (the data show that roses do grow better in soil with 99% confidence) - in this case, the researcher would reject the null hypothesis and accept the hypothesis.

Question 31

Occam’s razor

Answer 31

A rule in science and philosophy stating that entities should not be multiplied needlessly.
This rule is interpreted to mean that the simplest of two or more competing theories is preferable and that an explanation for unknown phenomena should first be attempted in terms of what is already known.

Occam’s razor is named after the deviser of the rule, English philosopher and theologian William of Ockham (1285?-1349?).

Question 32

Parsimony

Answer 32

Extreme stinginess.

Question 33

Peer review

Answer 33

Evaluate professionally a colleague’s work.

Question 34

Placebo effect

Answer 34

Any effect that seems to be a consequence of administering a placebo; the change is usually beneficial and is assumed result from the person’s faith in the treatment or preconceptions about what the experimental drug was supposed to do; pharmacologists were the first to talk about placebo effects but now the idea has been generalized to many situations having nothing to do with drugs

Question 35

Placebo

Answer 35

Biologically inactive drug, a sugar pill, a substance containing no active drug.

Question 36

Privatization

Answer 36

When something is owned by the government — like a healthcare system, for example — and its ownership becomes privately held, it’s called privatization.

If your governor had a plan to replace all the public schools in the state with private schools, you could describe it as privatization.

People tend to have strong opinions about privatization, believing either that free enterprise and private companies increase efficiency, or that certain services are harmed by privatization, particularly education, healthcare, and law enforcement.

At the heart of privatization is the word private, rooted in the Latin privatus, “belonging to the self rather than the state.”

Question 37

Pseudoscience

Answer 37

An activity resembling science but based on fallacious assumptions.

Question 38

Reductionism

Answer 38

Reductionism is the act of oversimplifying an issue, breaking it down into small parts that don’t reflect how complex it actually is.

Political scientists might accuse journalists of reductionism when they briefly sum up a complicated topic.

You might come across the term reductionism in a philosophy class — in this context, any scientific theory, object, or meaning can be reduced to its individual parts.
If you understand these smaller components, you will understand the larger concept.

A more derogatory way to use the word is to accuse someone of trying to make something too simple through reductionism.
Someone who tends to do this is known as a reductionist.

Question 39

Rhetorical device

Answer 39

A rhetorical device is a use of language that is intended to have an effect on its audience.

Repetition, figurative language, and even rhetorical questions are all examples of rhetorical devices.

You hear me? Rhetorical devices are common, such as saying language is a living beast: that’s a metaphor — one of the most common rhetorical devices. Another is alliteration, like saying “bees behave badly in Boston.” Rhetorical devices go beyond the meaning of words to create effects that are creative and imaginative, adding literary quality to writing.

Question 40

Scientific methodology

Answer 40

The scientific method is a body of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge.

To be termed scientific, a method of inquiry is commonly based on empirical or measurable evidence subject to specific principles of reasoning.

Question 41

Speculation

Answer 41

When you guess about how something is going to come out (or how it happened), that’s speculation.
You’re making an educated guess.

When people predict who will win a football game, an Oscar, or an election, it’s speculation: people are looking at the facts and making their best guess. Just about anything you say about the future is speculation, because no one knows what will happen.
The word is used in the stock market for such financial dealings as “buying on spec,” a risky way to make money. Sometimes, this word means something close to meditation — pondering something deeply.

Question 42

Theory

Answer 42

A set of statements or principles devised to explain a group of facts or phenomena.

Most theories that are accepted by scientists have been repeatedly tested by experiments and can be used to make predictions about natural phenomena.