Biology Chapter 1

Science:

both a body of knowledge and an intellectual activity encompassing observation, description experimentation, and explanation of natural phenomenon.

All of the following are elements of biological literacy except:

reading the most important books.

Biological literacy is:

the ability to use the process of scientific inquiry to think creatively about real world issues that have a biological component, communicate these thoughts to others, and integrate these ideas into your decision making.

Superstitions are:

irrational beliefs that actions not logically related to a course of events influence its outcome.

To be useful in the scientific method, an observation must be:

measurable

Empirical results:

are based on rational, testable, and repeatable observations.

To be useful, a hypothesis will:

generate a testable prediction.

Which of the following statements is correct?

A hypothesis that does not generate a testable prediction is not useful.

The placebo effect:

is the frequently observed phenomenon that people tend to respond favorably to any treatment

Which of the following correctly describes a double blind test?

Neither the researchers nor the study participants know who is receiving the drug and who is receiving the placebo.

In controlled experiments:

one variable is manipulated while others are held constant.

If a researcher uses the same experimental set up as in another study, but with different research subjects, the process is considered:

replication

An independent variable:

can cause change in the dependent variable.

Statistical methods make it possible to:

determine how likely it is that a certain results have occurred by chance.

Anecdotal evidence:

can seem to reveal links between two phenomena, but the links do not actually exist.

A relationship between phenomena that has been established on the basis of large amounts of observational and experimental data is referred to as:

theory

Which of the following issues would be the least helped by the application of the scientific method?

Formulating public policy on euthanasia.

What is the meaning of the statement "correlation does not imply causation"?

Just because two variables vary in a similar pattern does not mean that changing one variable causes a change in the other.

Science:

a body of knowledge based on observation, description, experimentation, and explanation of natural phenomenon.

Biology:

study of living 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 ones’ decision making.

Superstition:

the irrational belief that actions not related by logic to a course of events can influence an outcome.

Scientific method:

a process of examination and discovery of natural phenomenon that involves making observations, constructing hypotheses, testing predictions, experimenting, and drawing conclusions and revising them as necessary.

Empirical:

describes knowledge that is based on experience and observations that are rational, testable, and repeatable.

Hypothesis:

a proposed explanation for an observed phenomenon.

Null hypothesis:

a hypothesis that proposes lack of relationship between two factors.

Critical experiment:

an experiment that makes it possible determine decisively between alternative hypotheses

Placebo:

an inactive substance used in controlled experiments to test the effectiveness of another substance; the treatment group receives the substance being tested, and the control group receives the placebo.

Theory:

an explanatory hypothesis for a natural phenomenon that is exceptionally well supported by empirical data.

Treatment:

in a research study, any condition applied to subjects – those in the treatment group – that is not applied to subjects in a control group.

Experimental Group:

in an experiment, the group of subjects exposed to a particular treatment, aka the treatment group.

Control group:

in an experiment, the group of subjects not exposed to the treatment being studied but otherwise treated identically to the experimental group.

Variables:

the characteristics of an experimental system subject to change.

Placebo effect:

a frequently observed and poorly understood phenomenon in which there is a positive response to treatment with an inactive substance.

Blind experimental design:

an experimental design in which the subjects do not know what treatment (if any) they are receiving.

Double-blind experimental design:

an experimental design in which neither the subjects nor the experimenters know what treatment (if any) individual subjects are receiving.

Randomized:

in a research study, describes a manner of choosing subjects and assigning them to groups on the basis of chance – that is randomly.

Independent variable:

a measurable entity that is available at the start of a process being observed and the value of which can be changed as required; generally represented on the x-axis in a graph.

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.

Statistics:

a set of analytical and mathematical tools designed to further the understanding of numerical data.

Positive correlation:

a relationship between variables in which they increase (or decrease) together.

Pseudoscience:

hypotheses and theories not supported by trustworthy and methodical scientific studies

Anecdotal observations:

observation of one or only a few instances of a phenomenon.