Chapter 1.1: Scientific Inquiry

Define hypotheses

a tentative explanation for one or more observations that makes predictions that can be tested by experiments or additional observations.

make predictions about observations

True or false: observation leads to hypotheses

true

Control group

group that is not treated and compared against test (experimental) group.

control variable

factor that is deliberately kept constant across all trials.

Test (experimental) group

independent variable

group that is tested

“cause” of experiment, manipulated by the researchers

dependent variable

“effect” of independent variable, observed by the researchers

Process of scientific inquiry in order:

1) formulating and testing?

2) recognize that observations and experiments must be? hypotheses must be?

3) define a?

hypotheses, controlled experiments, and independent and dependent variables.

repeatable, reliable, hypotheses must be testable.

scientific theory (optional)

explain the difference between controlled experiments and observational studies.

controlled experiments include actively manipulating one or more variables

observational studies observes and records data without manipulating variables

what is meant by a controlled experiment

designed to test the effect of an independent variable on a dependent variable while controlling all other variable that could influence the results.

How is a Scientific theory different compared to Hypotheses

Hypotheses make predictions about observations; theories are explanations of natural phenomena that have been supported by a large body of research/experiments.