SCIENTIFIC METHOds Flashcards
What is accuracy? How can it be improved?
A description of how close a measurement
is to the true value of the quantity being
measured.
Can be affected by Systematic errors hence calibrating all equipment will improve accuracy.
What is precision? How can it be improved?
How closely a set of measurement values
agree with each other
Can be affected by random errors and be impoved by increasing sample size .
What is repeatability? How does it affect the experiment?
The precision obtained when measurement results are produced in one laboratory by a single
operator, using the same equipment under the same conditions, over a short timescale.
It tests the validity of their results, repeating increases validity.
What is reproducibility?
How well the experiment can be reproduced by different laboratories.
What is Validity? How can it be impreoved?
The extent to which a measurement measures what it is supposed to be measuring, and to which an
experiment examines what it sets out or claims to examine.
Validity is obtained if the measurements that have been made are affected by a single independent
variable. There is no validity if the experiment is flawed and controlled variables have been allowed to
change, or there is observer bias.
Validity is the extent of which the IV claims to affect the DV. It can be improved by control variables.
What is personal error?
Mistakes and miscalculations that result from carelessness, inattention, or personal limitations of the
experimenter
What is Random Error
Unpredictable variations in the measurement process that affect the precision of a measurement and
result in a spread of readings.
What is Systematic Error caused by? What does it affect?
Affect the accuracy of a measurement and cause readings to differ from the true value by a consistent
amount each time a measurement is made, so that all the readings are shifted in one direction from
the true value.
