scientific method, law, and theory

• scientific method - an orderly and systematic approach to investigating natural phenomena
• problem statement - defining a question that we want to answer for

  • observation - acquisition of information through our senses; formulates questions and proposes tentative explanations
  • research - background information to further expand knowledge about the problem and get a better foundation to the explanation that we want to prove
• hypothesis - tentative explanation of the problem; should be testable; "eg. when [...] increases, then the change of [...] is increased"
• variable - factor that can be controlled or changed in the experiment

  • independent variable - if, cause; changed in the experiment
  • dependent variable - then, effect; expected to change as an effect of changing the independent variable
  • controlled or constant variable - kept unchanged throughout the study; what iv and dv tries to control
• experimentation - orderly procedure of establishing the validity of the hypothesis

  • variable
  • experimental group
  • control group
• experimental group - set up where the independent variable is manipulated to observe the effect on the dependent variable
• control group - set up where the independent variable is not manipulated; serves as the standard to which the result of the experiment is compared; eg. my life with u vs without u
• analysis - process of determining what the results of the experiment show and if it supports or falsifies the hypothesis
• graphing - way of observing trends in the data and finding relationships between the studied variables
• common graph trends:

  • direct proportion - y increases as x increases
  • inverse proportion - y increases as x increases
  • direct square proportion - y decreases as the square of x increases
  • inverse square proportion - y decreases as the square of x increases

  A) direct proportion

  B) inverse proportion
• common graphic trends:

  A) direct square proportion

  B) inverse square proportion

  
• common graph trends:

  A) direct proportion

  B) inverse proportion

  
• conclusion - statement that discusses whether the hypothesis is true or false based on the results of the experiment, or if the results were insufficient to prove the hypothesis
• recommendations - suggestions made to improve on the current study or expand to other parts of the study
• scientific theory - explains a phenomenon; supports scientific laws
• scientific law - generally accepted observation or description