Topic 1 - The Scientific Approach Flashcards
more information doesn’t always mean…
more answers. Also lots of misinformation
define the difference between misinformation and disinformation
Misinformation: passing on wrong info, usually accidentally
Disinformation: purposely spreading wrong info, purposely deceiving people
Name 7 tips on stopping the spread of fake news
1) Access the source
2) Go beyond headlines
3) Identify the author
4) Check the date
5) Examine the supporting evidence
6) Check your biases
7) Turn to fact-checkers
Science is never_
black and white
- always evolving, science is never 100%
the goal of stats isn’t to confirm/deny something, it’s to_
look at the probability of things
A lot of misinformation doesn’t come from nothing, give some examples shown in class
- hydroxychloroquine: used to treat malaria and symptoms of some chronic diseases, gained traction for potential covid treatment
- ivermectin: used to treat parasitic worms in animals, gained traction for potential covid cure
*both had promising results very early
Although there is no “scientific proof” and concrete answers rarely exist, _
research provides “evidence
*heathy scepticism is what science is built upon!
The term scientific literacy is _
super broad
Define scientific literacy
- a skillset and mindset that will support problem solving and making intelligent, informed decisions
- a way of thinking that is more logical, with a healthy level of skepticism
define intuition
- draw general conclusions based on emotions and instincts
- can be based on past experiences/partial evidence
*always gonna have some level of intuition, but have to move past it to the other ways of knnowing
define authority
- statements from authorities must be true
- persuation does not equal to credibility
- coming from people who are experts on topic/ppl with more power and knowledge in field
define rationalism
- reason/logic to draw conclusions (without actually seeing anything)
- what if our initial premise is wrong…
- if_is that, then_is_
*if initial premise is incorrect, our logic becomes faulty (ex. loss of smell and covid status)
define empiricism
- making conclusions through structured observations
- different than anecdotal evidence
**the scientific approach is grounded in empiricism!
the scientific approach is grounded in empiricism BUT _
also relies on rationalism, authority and intuition
*can’t always rely on empiricism
*healthy scepticism, don’t blindly accept what you hear and read
*evaluated on the basis of logic and the quality of scientific results (aka. not the existence of results)
define the scientific approach
systematic set of principles and procedures for generating knowledge
- science is very incremental, but usually very cyclical approach: adding more info which generated new question
list the 7 characteristics of the pseudo-scientific approach
- hypotheses not testable
- methods are not scientific or validity of data is questionable
- evidence anecdotal
- heavy focus on “experts”, not scientific references
- ignore conflicting evidence
- use many “scientific-sounding” terms/ideas
- claims are vague
what are 2 types of common misinterpretations of scientific data?
statistical misinterpretations, overgeneralizations
name the 3 components of statistical misinterpretations
1) correlation does not equal causation
2) confounding variables
3) statistical significance does not equal importance
name the 2 components of overgeneralizations
1) a single study is rarely confirmatory
2) results may apply to a specific group
define correlation
a relationship between 2 measures
- reported as correlation coefficient (0=not related, 1=perfectly related)
describe correlation does not equal causation
- just because 2 things are related to one another, doesn’t mean they cause the other
ex. taller/bigger shoes, eat nuts/live longer
define confounding variables
other variables that may also influence the relationship but are not the primary focus
*when these are ignored, might make it seem like a relationship is more meaningful than it is
define statistical significance
- describes how likely what we observed is due to chance
- our confidence in our results
*p-values (smaller = less likely to be chance, 0.05 threshold in most research but debated)
*influenced by average scores, how much they vary, and # of scores collected
Statistical significance is more than just about means, how could the average be same but significance be different?
the spread of data values could be larger (variability of scores/observations)
*smaller spread is better because less difference between people = confidence in results
OR more people in study
