Chapter 1 - The Study of Life Flashcards
(51 cards)
What is the scientific method
Method at research with defined steps that include careful observation and expirement
Conducting repeatable expirement is easy for biology, physics, chemistry but hard for what?
Social sciences like psychology or sociology
A hypothesis may become a verified theory which is what?
A confirmed explanation for an observation or phenomena
What are natural sciences?
They are fields of science related to the physical world and it’s phenomena (bio, Chem, Phys, astronomy)
Natural sciences are divided into what?
Life sciences - study of living things
Physical sciences - study of non living things
What is interdisciplinary sciences?
A scientific study that combines the likes from a few different fields of study examples are biochemistry, and biophysics
What type of data do natural sciences rely on? What type of data does social science rely on?
Natural sciences rely on quantitative data while social sciences rely on qualitative data
What is inductive reasoning?
A type of reasoning that uses specific, related observations to arrive at a general conclusion
What is deductive reasoning?
A type of reasoning that is used in hypothesis based science, it uses general principles or laws to forecast specific results
The scientific method starts with…
Observations (or problems) and leads to a question
What is a hypothesis?
A suggested explanation that you can test
A hypothesis must be…
Testable and falsifiable, that is expiremental results can disprove it - opponents to disproving ideas seperates science apart from non science
What must an expirement have?
1 or more variables and 1 or more controls
What are variables?
Parts of the experiment that can change
What are controls?
They contain every feature of the experiment except for the manipulation the researcher hypothesis’s, therefore if there is a differ in results it must be due to the hypothesis
When does the scientific method reject a hypothesis?
When it is inconsistent with the experimental data
What is the difference between basic science and applied science?
Basic science seeks to expand knowledge, not focused on producing a product or service
Applied science aims to solve real world problems
When reporting scientific work what must be done? List as many as possible
- scientific findings must be shared with other researchers
- communication with peers is vital
- results presented in peer reviewed manuscripts
- results must be significant, original, logical, thorough, and consistent
- scientific writing must be brief, concise, accurate, succinct but detailed
What is a peer reviewed manuscript?
A manuscript that is reviewed by qualified individuals for publications or grants
Sections of a scientific paper (lab report) include…
Introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion, and an abstract or a references section may also be included
What does an introduction have in a scientific paper?
It has brief but broad background information and includes rationale and justification for work - this is where hypothesis or problem is stated, publications used are also listed here
What does materials and methods have in a scientific paper?
A complete and accurate description of substances, methods, and techniques used, also how measurements and calculations were done
What does the results section of a scientific paper include?
A simple narrative on the findings without any interpretations and included tables and graphs
What does the discussion section of a scientific paper include?
Interpretation of results, description of how variables may be related, attempt to explain observations, references to citations do previous work should be included and an overall conclusion that summarizes the importance of the work, may also suggest further research
