PPT 1

Announcements

  • Today at 12:40 in Webb Conference Room:

    • Speaker: Dr. Pat Carroll (Psychology)

    • Topic: "How doubting your doubts may increase commitment to your goals."

  • We are meeting in the lab this week.

  • No class on Monday.

Thought Question

  • Name a flying dinosaur.

  • What is the difference between a hypothesis and a theory?

  • What is the value of peer-review?

  • Why not just look for scientists with solid credentials to post on their own website, for example?

  • What are some drawbacks to peer-review?

Scientific Method

  • Figure 1.UN04: The Process of Science

    • Steps:

    • Observation

    • Question

    • Hypothesis

    • Prediction

    • Experiment

    • Revise and repeat

    • Conclusion

    • Leads to new observations and new questions

    • Application: Science uses the scientific method as a powerful approach to solving problems across various fields.

Hypothesis-Driven Science

  • Figure 1.UN04-2:

    • Most modern science is hypothesis-driven

    • Definition of Hypothesis:

    • A tentative answer to a question

    • An explanation on trial

Example of Hypothesis Testing

  • Figure 1.15-3:

    • Scenario: The remote doesn’t work.

    • Question: What’s wrong?

    • Hypothesis: The batteries are dead.

    • Experiment: Replace batteries.

    • Prediction: With new batteries, it will work.

    • Revise if needed.

Testing a Hypothesis

  • Involves the use of statistics:

    • Example:

    • Statement: "Members of Group A are bigger than Group B"

    • This is rarely sufficient.

    • Revised: "Members of Group A are (statistically) significantly bigger than Group B" is necessary.

Statistical Hypothesis Testing

  • Requires two types of hypotheses:

    • Null Hypothesis (H0):

    • States that the groups are the same.

    • Alternate Hypothesis (HA):

    • States that the groups are different.

Theories in Science

  • Difference between Theory and Hypothesis:

    • A scientific theory is much broader in scope than a hypothesis.

    • Theories become widely accepted only if they are very well supported over a long period of time.

    • Reference: © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

The Culture of Science

  • Science builds on previous research findings.

  • Cooperation and Competition among Scientists:

    • Scientists check the conclusions of others.

    • Repeat experiments to verify findings.

    • Expected to argue points and engage in debates.

    • Generally maintain a skeptical viewpoint.

    • Reference: © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

Publishing Scientific Findings

  • Methods of sharing findings:

    • Presentations at conferences.

    • Pre-prints (sometimes).

    • Peer-reviewed publication of individual experimental findings in technical journals.

    • Summaries of results from multiple peer-reviewed studies.

    • Textbooks and popular books.

The Peer-Review Process

  • Process of publishing a scientific article:

    • Scientist (the “author”) conducts research and writes an article.

    • The author submits the article to a scientific journal.

    • Journal editor selects reviewers with relevant specialties.

    • Reviewers assess the article's techniques and statistics; they write a list of suggested changes and recommend acceptance or rejection.

Next Steps After Submission

  • The editor informs the author about acceptance or rejection and includes reviewer comments.

  • If not rejected, the author makes necessary changes or argues against suggested changes and resubmits.

  • Reviewers reassess the revised article and decide to accept or reject it again.

  • If accepted, the editor sends the article to be published by the journal.

  • The article is published in the scientific journal.