Unit 4 AOS 3: Glossary

Question 1

What does title mean?

Answer 1

the research question under investigation; includes information about what is being tested

Question 2

What is a introduction?

Answer 2

a detailed but succinct explanation of the reason for undertaking an investigation; includes key biological concepts, aim and hypothesis

Question 3

What does Aim meam?

Answer 3

the main purpose of an investigation and what you hope to achieve

Question 4

What is a hypothesis?

Answer 4

a prediction of the outcomes, which are testable experimentally and form the basis of the methodology

Question 5

What is the independent variable?

Answer 5

the variable for which quantities are changed by the experimenter

Question 6

What is the dependent variable?

Answer 6

The variable that changes in response to changes in the independent variable; the experimenter measures these changes

Question 7

What is the controlled variable?

Answer 7

anything kept constant, or monitored, so it does not affect the independent and dependent variable, and therefore the validity of experimental results

Question 8

What is the controlled group?

Answer 8

the set-up or group in an experiment that does not receive treatment; it is used as the ‘standard of compassion’

Question 9

What is a placebo?

Answer 9

a substance that has no therapeutic effect but may have a psychological effect

Question 10

What is positive control?

Answer 10

a control group receive a treatment with a known response that can then be compared to the experiment group(s)

Question 11

What is the negative control?

Answer 11

a control group that isn’t expected to produce a result

Question 12

What is a method?

Answer 12

a series of numbered steps describing the procedure

Question 13

What does repeatability mean?

Answer 13

recording of results produced when the experiment is repeated in one lab by one operator under the same conditions

Question 14

What does reproducibility mean?

Answer 14

when the same results are obtained for the same experiment by different operators using different equipment

Question 15

What does reliability mean?

Answer 15

the extent to which an experiment always yields the same results under the same conditions

Question 16

What does validity mean?

Answer 16

the extent to which all variables in the experiment have been controlled, so that the independent variable is the only factor that changes

Question 17

What does single-variable exploration mean?

Answer 17

an investigation that contains only one independent and one dependent variable

Question 18

What does Qualitative data mean?

Answer 18

data that is descriptive (not numeric)

Question 19

What does Quantitative data mean?

Answer 19

data that is measured and represented numerically

Question 20

What does continuous data mean?

Answer 20

data that is measurable and continuous, with infinite possible values; best represented by a line graph

Question 21

What does discrete data mean?

Answer 21

data that is countable and in discrete categories; contains distinct or separate values; best represented by a bar graph

Question 22

What does Accuracy mean?

Answer 22

how close the measurements are to the ‘true’ value of the quantity being measured

Question 23

What does True value mean?

Answer 23

the value or range of values that would be obtained if the quantity could be measured perfectly

Question 24

What does Systematic error?

Answer 24

when the readings obtained from measurements differ from the ‘true’ value consistently in one direction every time

Question 25

What does random error mean?

Answer 25

an unpredictable variation in the readings obtained, due to variables not all being controlled (extraneous variables), and resulting in the readings being higher or lower than expected

Question 26

What is an outlier?

Answer 26

a reading that is very different from other results obtained for the same measurement

Question 27

What does precision mean?

Answer 27

how close all the measurements are to each other

Question 28

What does conclusion mean?

Answer 28

a summary of what you can deduce from the results of the investigation, including whether the tested hypothesis was supported

Question 29

What does the line that best fits mean?

Answer 29

a line on the graph that shows the general trend of the data points; the distance to the points above the line should equal the distance to the point below the line