Scientific Method BIO 101
4.)Consult Available Information
-text book -journal -see what others have done
Independent Variable
-what the investigator manipulate to potentially cause a change
Dependent Variable
-what the investigator measures or observes for changes
3 major disciplines
1)Biology-study of the living world(life) 2)chemistry-study of the physical world 3)Physics-study of the world and what rules govern it -how it works
1 Important underlying rule:
Your ability to describe and define the world will ALWAYS be limited by the tool available
what is science
attempt to describe and define the world around us.
5.)Design/carry out an Experiment
-test your hypothesis
2.)Ask a Question
Pertaining to your observation
QUESTIONS to ASK
-Beneficial ? -Feasible? -Ethical?
Is it Beneficial
-Does this improve anything?
Is this Ethical
-Does this meet what society accepts at the time ?
Replication
-Repeatability -Reproducibility
very from person to person
-Subjective -limited their use to science
7.) Draw a conclusion
-accept or reject your hypothesis as a potential answer to your question
Experimental Environment
-all the pieces that make up your Experiment and Immediate surroundings Variable=Pieces
Theory
-an accepted explanation for an event of phenomenon -until proven untrue
3.)Form a Hypothesis
-an educated guess -a possible answer to your own question based on available information -phrased as a statement
Reproducibility
-anyone should be able to replicate your results given the same material
b.)Qualitative Data (quality)
-can't be measured -used to describe human experience -subjective
a.) Quantitive Data (quantity)
-has a measurable value -empirical -objective-means the same every time
6.)Gather/Analyze Data
-information generated through experimentation -There are two major data
Repeatability
-investigator should be able to reproduce THEIR OWN result at least 3 TIMES -Help ensure its not just an error
Is it Feasible
-is this reasonable to do -cost? -space? -time?
A.) Controlled variable
-piece of the experimental environment that the investigation keeps constant between experiments. -more variables we control the definitive our answer is -Goal:to isolate single variable to manipulate
Experimentation
-purposeful test of a hypothesis -Determining if our possible answer is correct
Most basic tools are the senses!
-smell -sound -sight -tough -taste
Law
Accepted rule or Phenomenon WITHOUT a known explanation
1.)Make an Observation
notice something in the world around us
Scientific Method
ordered series of steps to answer a question or solve a problem