The Scientic Method Flashcards
what is science
analysis, experiments, observations
scientific findings are not supposed to be accepted based on
-the prestige or convincing powers of scientists
-or to support the expected outcome of investors
what is discovery science
science that is describing nature based on qualitative date (no experiments)
what is hypothesis based science
science that explains nature using quantitative data (using experiments)
what are the 7 steps of the scientific method
- make observations
- ask questions
- form a hypothesis
- make a prediction (if, then)
- test the prediction (plan and perform experiments to collect data)
- interpret data
- draw conclusions
what is a hypothesis
educated guess that explains a phenomenon or answers a scientific question (genrate predictions)
a hypothesis must be…
falsifiable (can be right or wrong)
how should you conclude results
the data supports the hypothesis or the data fails to support
what is a control variable
variable that is the same in the experimental and control group
what is a control group
group that is used to compare to the experimental group (doesn’t get treatment)
what is a theory
a well sustained explanation for a set of verified hypotheses
what is an independent variable
variable being manipulated
what is a dependent variable
variable that is being tested
what is a comfounding variable
variables that cannot be controlled, need to be taken under consideration
what are the components of a controlled experiment
experimental group (receives experiemnt) and control group (doesn’t receive experiement)
how do we avoid biases
neither the researchers or groups know who got the drugs or the placebo
what is a replicate
experiment being done multiple times to see the variability in the data obtained and to verify the experiment
why is it important to have a a good sample size
more likely to draw accurate conclusions, but not large enough to waste ressources
ethics in science
don’t change data, write everything down to allow reproduction and take care of living things and avoid contamination of viruses
