experimental biology

Question 1

What are the stages of the scientific method?

Answer 1

(when new observations are made)

• observation
• hypothesis
• experiment (where the hypothesis is tested)
• conclusion (the hypothesis is supported or rejected)
• scientific theory

Question 2

When is the scientific question formed?

Answer 2

It is formed after you observe something curious.

Question 3

What are the aspects of the scientific question?

Answer 3

• must combine what is already known
• must be answerable
• must be testable

Question 4

What are the three ways of verifying the hypothesis?

Answer 4

• observation
• research
• experiment

Question 5

What is the hypothesis?

Answer 5

A hypothesis is a statement that provides a possible answer to a question or an explanation for an observation that can be tested. ?proposed explanation for a phenomenon

Question 6

What are the features of a hypothesis? (4)

Answer 6

• must be logical
• must account for all relevant information available
• must be testable
• must allow one to predict future events

Question 7

How many groups must the experiment have?

Answer 7

2 groups (control group and experimental group)

Question 8

What is the purpose of the control group?

Answer 8

The control group makes sure that THE factor is responsible for certain results.

Question 9

What are the variables in an experiment? (3)

Answer 9

• independent (what I change)
• dependent (what I observe)
• controlled (what I keep the same)

Question 10

What is a theory?

Answer 10

A theory is an explanation acquired through the scientific method.

Question 11

What is a scientific law?

Answer 11

Law is a statement based on repeated experimental observation.

Question 12

What are the names of the three main statistical tests?

Answer 12

1) student-T-test
2) ANOVA test
3) Chi-Square (x2)

Question 13

How does the student-T-test work?

Answer 13

It compares the mean and standard deviation (a measure of how spread out a data set is).

Question 14

When do we experience a null hypothesis?

Answer 14

When there is no significant difference between the two experimental groups (any differences may be due to chance or sampling error)

Question 15

When do we experience an alternative hypothesis?

Answer 15

When there is a significant difference between the two experimental groups (the difference is not likely due to chance or sampling error)

Question 16

When can we say that data is statistically significant?

Answer 16

If the error bars do not overlap.

Question 17

What does ANOVA stand for?

Answer 17

ANOVA is an acronym for Analysis of Variance

Question 18

How do we use the ANOVA test?

Answer 18

ANOVA can be done in place of multiple T-tests when comparing the means of more than two groups at a time.

Question 19

What is the other name for the Chi-Square test?

Answer 19

Goodness of fit.

Question 20

What does the Chi-Square test compare?

Answer 20

It compares observed data with the data we would expect to obtain.

Question 21

What is a trend?

Answer 21

It’s a thing that appears to be found generally rather than just in specific cases.

Question 22

What are the exceptions to a general trend called?

Answer 22

Those are called discrepancies.