NAME THAT QUESTION
A scientist asks: “What causes this cell population to proliferate?” This question type focuses on determining a causal relationship.
What is Why/What — causal analysis?
In an experiment testing whether caffeine affects reaction time, caffeine consumption is this variable.
What is independent variable?
Research question: Does sleep duration affect test performance?
What is “Students who sleep 8+ hours will score higher on tests than students who sleep under 6 hours”?
This property means a hypothesis must “risk being proven wrong” by an empirical test.
What is falsifiability?
Meselson and Stahl grew bacteria on this element, that was then traced in their experiment once the bacteria grew out.
What is nitrogen?
A scientist asks: “How are the experimental groups different?” This question type is best associated with statistical testing of differences/relationships and typically pits this against an alternative hypothesis.
What is a null hypothesis?
In students who sleep 8+ hours will result in higher test scores, test scores is this variable.
What is dependent variable?
Research question: Does screen time relate to anxiety?
What is “Increased screen time is associated with higher reported anxiety”?
A hypothesis says: “All plants grow better when exposed to blue light.” A scientist finds that some plants grow worse under blue light. This result does what to the hypothesis?
What is falsify/disprove/rejects the hypothesis?
This question type sorts observations into distinct categories.
What is Which/Classification?
In “Increased screen time is associated with higher reported anxiety,” screen time is this variable.
What is the independent variable?
Research question: Does caffeine affect heart rate?
What is “Students who consume caffeine will have higher resting heart rates than those that don't”?
A scientist proposes a hypothesis but cannot imagine ANY experimental result that would prove it wrong. According to this man's criterion, this claim is non-falsifiable.
Who is Karl Popper?
This question type looks for recurring patterns or co-occurrences in large data-sets.
What is frequency/association rule mining?
In that same hypothesis, reported anxiety is this variable.
What is the dependent variable?
Research question: Is there a difference in test performance between two sleep groups? Give a NULL hypothesis.
What is “There is no significant difference in test scores between the two sleep groups”?
A claim says: “This invisible force affects human behavior, but it disappears whenever anyone tries to measure it.” This part of the claim renders it non-falsifiable.
This question type is most directly associated with identifying a cause-and-effect relationship between variables.
What is Why/What — causal analysis?
A valid hypothesis must explicitly establish a relationship between these two types of variables.
What are the independent and dependent variables?
Research question: Does exercise affect resting heart rate? Give a NON-DIRECTIONAL hypothesis.
What is “There is a relationship between exercise frequency and resting heart rate”?
A hypothesis predicts that Drug A will increase cell proliferation. An experiment finds no difference between Drug A and the control. This is an example of evidence that does what to the hypothesis?
What is reject/disproves/fails to support the hypothesis?