BIOL 108 Chp 1 Scientific Thinking
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Created by:
robswatski Teacher on August 25, 2009
Subjects:
Description:
This flashcard set includes the vocabulary words and definitions from Chp 1: Scientific Thinking (What is Life? 2nd Ed. by Jay Phelan, 2013).
Classes:
Intro to Biological Science (BIOL 108) Study Group
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26 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 anecdotal observation | one or only a few instances that are used by people to conclude that there is or is not a link between two things |
| biological literacy | the ability to use scientific inquiry to think creatively about problems with a biological component; to communicate these thoughts to others; and to integrate these ideas into one's decision-making |
| biology | the study of living things |
| blind experimental design | when the subjects do not know what treatment (if any) they are receiving |
| control group | the research subjects who are treated identically to the other subjects, but are not exposed to the treatment being studied |
| critical experiment | this makes it possible to determine decisively between alternative hypotheses |
| double-blind experimental design | the subjects nor the experimenters know what treatment (if any) individual subjects are receiving |
| empirical | describes knowledge that is based on experience and observations that are rational, testable, and repeatable |
| experimental group | the research subjects who are exposed to a particular treatment |
| hypothesis | a proposed explanation for an observed phenomenon |
| null hypothesis | this states a lack of relationship between two factors |
| placebo | an inactive substance used to test the effectiveness of another substance |
| placebo effect | a frequently observed and poorly understood phenomenon in which there is a positive response to treatment with an inactive substance |
| positive correlation | a relationship between variables, in which they increase (or decrease) together |
| pseudoscience | statements not supported by trustworthy and methodical scientific studies (but presented as if they were) |
| randomized | describes a manner of choosing subjects and assigning them to groups on the basis of chance |
| science | a body of knowledge based on observation, description, experimentation, and explanation of natural phenomena |
| scientific literacy | a general, fact-based understanding of the basics of biology and other sciences, the scientific method, and the social, political, and legal implications of scientific information |
| scientific method | a process of examination and discovery of natural phenomena involving making observations, constructing hypotheses, testing predictions, experimenting, and drawing conclusions and revising them as necessary |
| statistics | a set of analytical and mathematical tools designed to gain further understanding of numerical data |
| superstition | a belief or practice resulting from ignorance, fear of the unknown, trust in magic or chance, or a false conception of causation |
| theory | a broad, explanatory hypothesis for a natural phenomenon that is exceptionally well-supported by empirical data |
| treatment | any condition applied to the subjects of a research study that is not applied to subjects in a control group |
| variable | a characteristic of an experimental system that is subject to change |
| dependent variable | a measurable entity that is created by the process being observed and whose value cannot be controlled; generally represented on the y-axis in a graph and expected to change in response to a change in the independent variable |
| independent variable | a measurable entity that is available at the start of a process being observed and whose value can be changed as required; generally represented on the x-axis in a graph |
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