The scientific method Flashcards
Which method of acquiring knowledge is being used by students who are learning from teachers and textbooks?
empiricism
rationalism
(method of authority)
scientific method
Last year Tomas and his friend Jamie were both too short to ride the rollercoaster. Jamie went to the park this year and was tall enough to ride. Because Tomas is taller than Jamie, he thinks that he will be able to ride the rollercoaster as well. Tomas is using the ____ to answer his question.
method of empiricism
(rational method)
method of authority
scientific method
Visual illusions, such as the vertical/horizontal illusion, provide a demonstration of one problem with the ____ method of knowing or acquiring knowledge.
rational
authority
(empirical)
scientific
An explanation is empirical if it is based on ____.
widely held beliefs
logical deductions
(evidence of the senses)
respect for the source
When people make an observation, then form a hypothesis that explains the observation, and then make more observations to test the credibility of the hypothesis, they are using the ____.
empirical method
rational method
(scientific method)
method of authority
What kind of reasoning uses a general statement to make conclusions about specific examples?
inductive
(deductive)
scientific
predictive
What kind of reasoning uses a few specific observations to produce a statement about a larger possible set of observations?
(inductive)
deductive
scientific
predictive
In the scientific method, a prediction is evaluated by ____.
(making systematic, planned observations)
determining the hypothesis of best fit
logically evaluating the implications
using it to explain established phenomena
Repeating a study by copying the methods used by another researcher is referred to as ____.
empiricism
(replication)
control
tenacity
Pseudoscience is based on ____.
testable hypotheses
objective evidence
(subjective evidence)
refutable hypotheses
