BIO 182: Scientific Method and Statistics

These flashcards cover key concepts related to the scientific method and statistical analysis as discussed in the BIO 182 lecture.

Scientific Method

A systematic process used for scientific investigation including observation, hypothesis formation, experimentation, and conclusion.

Statistics

The science of collecting, analyzing, interpreting, presenting, and organizing data.

Measures of Central Tendency

Statistics that describe the center of a data set, including mean, median, and mode.

Mean

The average value of a dataset, calculated by dividing the sum of all values by the number of values.

Median

The middle value in a dataset when the values are arranged in ascending or descending order.

Mode

The value that occurs most frequently in a dataset.

Range

The difference between the maximum and minimum values in a dataset.

Interquartile Range

The difference between the upper and lower quartiles, representing the middle 50% of a dataset.

Standard Deviation (SD)

A measure that quantifies the amount of variation or dispersion of a set of values.

Standard Error (SE)

An estimate of the variability of the sample mean, calculated as the population standard deviation divided by the square root of the sample size.

Normal Distribution

A probability distribution that is symmetric around the mean, depicting that data near the mean are more frequent in occurrence than data far from the mean.

Outlier

A data point that is significantly different from other observations in the dataset.

Population

The entire group of individuals or instances about whom we hope to learn.

Sample Size

The number of observations or replicates used in a statistical sample.

Variance

The average of the squared differences from the mean, indicating how much the values in a dataset differ from the average.