Unit 1 Terms

• Science is a way of knowing and method of seeking answers to questions on the basis of observation and experimentation
• Anecdotal evidence is personal observation and experience, but often unreliable and unverified
• Scientific evidence is systematic observation and experimentation, typically with mathematical data
• Peer review is the process where independent experts read scientific studies before publishing to verify its design
• A hypothesis is an explanation for a scientific observation/question that must be testable and falsifiable
• To be testable is able to be supported or rejected via experiments
• To be falsifiable is to be ruled out with data showing the hypothesis does NOT explain the observation
• An experiment is a scientific procedure whose results will either support or rule out a hypothesis
• A control group is the group in the experiment that experiences no manipulation, but may receive a placebo treatment