KA3.3 - Reporting and Critical Evaluation of Biological Research

Question 1

What format do most scientific articles follow?

Answer 1

• Title
• Abstract
• Introduction
• Method
• Results
• Analysis
• Discussion
• Reference List
• Appendix

Question 2

Describe the purpose of an abstract

Answer 2

outlines the aims and findings of the study

Question 3

Describe the purpose of an introduction

Answer 3

should provide any information required to support: choices of method, results, and discussion. An introduction should explain why the study has been carried out and place the study in the context of existing understanding. Key points should be summarised and supporting and contradictory information identified. Several sources should be selected to support statements, and citations and references should be in a standard form. Decisions regarding basic selection of study methods and organisms should be covered, as should the aims and hypotheses.

You do NOT need to actually learn this

Question 4

Define ‘selection bias’

Answer 4

the selection of a sample in
a non-random way

Question 5

Explain why selection bias must be avoided?

Answer 5

to ensure that the sample is representative of the entire population

if not this will make your results invalid

Question 6

Define ‘mean’

Answer 6

the total of the numbers divided by how many numbers there are

Question 7

Define ‘median’

Answer 7

The middle value.

Order the numbers, lowest to highest, and see which one is in the middle of the list.

Question 8

Describe what an ‘error bar’ indicates?

Answer 8

the variability of the plotted data

Question 9

Explain what bigger error bars on a graph indicate?

Answer 9

Less reliable data

Question 10

If error bars overlap what does this mean?

Answer 10

this indicates that the difference may be significant

This does NOT mean it is necessarily statistically signficant