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Science uses PHYSICAL EVIDENCE to answer questions about reality. If you cant
gather physical evidence, you cant do science. For example, questions of opinion cant
be examined with science. They rely on INTERNAL convictions, not EXTERNAL
evidence. You can recognize opinions by certain key words, such as good, bad, right,
wrong, better, worse. Questions that contain these words cant be examined with science.
For example, is the color blue BETTER than the color red?
Some questions cant be examined with science, because we dont know what physical
evidence to look for. For example, have aliens visited Earth? Since we have no idea what
aliens might look like, how they would act, or what kinds of technology they might have,
theres no way to know what sorts of evidence they would leave behind.
Questions of faith also fall into this category. For example, is there a divine force who
answers our prayers? What would the physical evidence look like? Certainly, some
prayers seem to be answered, because they happen. But, there is no physical evidence
that can tell us whether a DIVINE FORCE answered them, or whether they happened for
some OTHER reason. And, what about prayers that dont come true? Faith can handle
such questions by asserting that a divine force works in mysterious ways. Science
requires objective, physical, evidence.
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Its also important to understand the perspective of science when dealing with physical
evidence that has NO current explanation. Physical evidence that has no explanation
doesnt support ANY explanation of reality. Its simply unexplained, and will remain in
limbo until an explanation is found.
For example, if you saw strange lights in the sky that didnt match any aircraft, you might
be tempted to say space aliens! A scientist would say I dont know what it is yet!
Similarly, if a patient near death from cancer recovers completely, many people might
decide this is a miracle produced by a divine force. A scientist would conclude, I dont
know why the person recovered yet.
Science and religion can clash, and this usually happens when physical evidence
suggests ONE interpretation of reality, while literal interpretations of religious texts
suggest a DIFFERENT interpretation. In such cases, scientists generally feel that strong
physical evidence provides a more accurate description of reality than literal
interpretations of religious texts. What decision should YOU make in such cases? Thats
up to you.
Practice Questions:
Examine the following questions, and determine whether science can be used to
investigate them or not. You arent being asked whether or not the questions ARE TRUE,
only whether science can be used to investigate them. Check your answers below.
Workbook Questions:
Examine the following questions, and determine whether science can be used to
investigate them or not. You arent being asked whether or not the questions ARE TRUE,
only whether science can be used to investigate them. Answer YES or NO in your
Workbook. You don't need to explain your answers.
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1) Does life exist on Mars?
2) Is Classical music better than Rock?
3) Do angels exist?
4) Is affirmative action a good idea?
5) Does affirmative action result in a greater percentage of minority graduates?
3) Test Develop tests that evaluate your hypotheses to determine which, if any of
them, seem to explain your observations. During testing, new physical
evidence is collected and analyzed.
For example, suppose you wake up one morning and smell something terrible. You think
that perhaps you forgot to take the trash out the night before. You check the trash bin,
and sure enough, it's still full. You take out the trash, and the smell goes away. Problem
solved! Though you probably arent aware of it, you have just conducted the scientific
method. Lets take a closer look at what you just did.
Practice Questions:
The trash example has been broken into four discrete stages below. Each one represents
part of the scientific method. Label each stage with its appropriate name (Observe,
Hypothesize, Test, or Conclude). Note that the stages arent in order. That would be too
easy. Check your answers below.
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1) You discover the full trash bin, and get rid of it.
2) Perhaps you forgot to take out the trash.
3) Because the smell went away, this probably means that the trash was the problem, as
you thought.
4) You smell something terrible.
Workbook Questions:
Suppose you need a flashlight. You find one, but when you turn it on, it doesn't work. You
think that the batteries might be dead. You put new batteries in, and the flashlight works.
This example has been broken into four discrete stages below. Each one represents part
of the scientific method. Label each stage with its appropriate name (Observe,
Hypothesize, Test, or Conclude). Record your answers in your Workbook. Note that the
stages arent in order. That would be too easy.
1) Because the flashlight turned on with new batteries in it, this probably means that the
original batteries were, in fact, dead, as you thought.
2) You switch on the flashlight, and discover it doesnt work.
3) You insert new batteries, and switch it on. The flashlight works.
4) Perhaps the batteries are dead.
Confused? The numbers dont make sense, do they? The numbers are confusing
because there are no UNITS OF MEASUREMENT. Numerical data dont make any sense
unless they have units. Read the paragraph again, and see if it makes more sense with
the units of measurement added:
Imagine that you are planning a cookout. You know the guests include 5 married couples,
7 single friends, and 4 families with kids. The cookout will begin on the Julian date of
2453898.125. At the grocery store, you buy 9.07 kilograms of hamburger, and pay 5000
pennies for it. Now this makes more sense. (If youve never heard of the Julian date, you
can find out more at http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/JulianDate.html).
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To understand numerical data, you always need to know the units of measurement. The
METRIC SYSTEM is a group of units that is the standard one used by scientists around
the world. The metric system is the only one well use in this course, so lets become
familiar with it.
The metric system has a BASE UNIT for each different KIND of numerical data, such as
length, volume, or duration. The common base units are shown in Table 2. Note that each
base unit has an abbreviation that is NEVER capitalized.
Practice Questions:
Use Table 2 to answer the following questions. Check your answers below.
Workbook Questions:
Use Table 2 to answer the following questions. Record your answers in your Workbook.
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Exercise 4: The Metric System: Prefixes
To indicate more, or less, than the base unit, special prefixes are added to it. These
prefixes always indicate some FACTOR OF TEN. The common prefixes are shown in
Table 3. Note that SOME are capitalized, while others are not.
Table 3. Common metric prefixes and their associated numerical values. The prefix
called micro is the letter mu from the Greek alphabet.
Prefix Prefix Name Numerical Value Associated With Prefix
G giga one billion of the base unit 1,000,000,000
M mega one million of the base unit 1,000,000
k kilo one thousand of the base unit 1,000
h hecto one hundred of the base unit 100
dag deka ten of the base unit 10
Base Unit without a prefix one of the base unit 1
(gram, meter, liter, second, or byte)
d deci one tenth of the base unit 0.1
c centi one hundredth of the base unit 0.01
m milli one thousandth of the base unit 0.001
micro one millionth of the base unit 0.000001
n nano one billionth of the base unit 0.000000001
Practice Questions:
Use Tables 2 and 3 to answer the following questions. Check your answers below.
Workbook Questions:
Use Tables 2 and 3 to answer the following questions. Record your answers in your
Workbook.
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Exercise 5: Rounding
Hopefully, you remember from grade school that each position in a number has a
particular "place name". For example, in the number 123.45, the number 1 is in the
hundreds place, 2 is in the tens place, 4 is in the tenths place, and 5 is in the hundredths
place. The number 3 is in the "first whole numbers" place.
Often, numbers need to be ROUNDED to specific place values. For example, suppose
you weigh an item on a scale, and the scale reports that it weighs 52.041 grams. Should
you record the weight as 52.041, or should you ignore some of the numbers, and record
the weight as just 52, or 52.04? Or, suppose you use a calculator to determine that 5
divided by 3 is 1.666666, repeating to infinity. Should you record the answer as
1.66666666, or should you ignore some of the repeating sixes? If so, how many sixes
should you ignore?
In grade school, you should have learned one important RULE OF ROUNDING:
- Look at the number to the right of the number you are rounding to. If that number is 5 or
greater, round your number UP one. If the number to the right is 4 or less, do not change
your number.
Practice Questions:
Answer the following questions. Check your answers below.
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4) 30
5) 6.0
6) 86.8. As stated earlier in this Exercise, if your instructions don't indicate what to round
to, you should round fractional numbers to TENTHS.
7) 205. As stated earlier in this Exercise, if your instructions don't indicate what to round
to, you don't round non-fractional numbers.
Workbook Questions:
Answer the following questions. Record your answers in your Workbook.
A detailed list that explains exactly how measurements are taken is called a SAMPLING
PROTOCOL. A sampling protocol is essentially a recipe, and serves the same purpose. It
enables other scientists to duplicate someones work exactly, without any confusion or
uncertainty.
Why is this important? Imagine a scientist claims to find a link between diabetes and
saturated fat intake. In order to be sure that the link is real, many other scientists will need
to duplicate the study. But, if they dont know exactly how the study was conducted, how
can they repeat it? Further, if a scientist isnt precise and detailed when they write out
their sampling protocol, how can anyone be certain that they didnt make any mistakes?
Sampling protocols enable scientists to check their work, and the work of others, for
mistakes. Sampling protocols also enable scientists to duplicate the work of others, to see
if the results are accurate and consistent.
How detailed does a sampling protocol have to be? More detail is always better than less.
For example, suppose you wanted to measure the height of you and several friends.
Simple, right? You would just.well.DO IT, wouldnt you? Not so fast! If you want to do
it scientifically, its more complicated. Would you use a tape measure, or meter stick?
How should the person stand while being measured, and how can you describe it in
words, so that someone else could do it EXACTLY the same way? What about shoes,
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hats, and big hair? How would you find the exact top of the persons head: with a flat
book, or something else? How would you hold a book on their head? How would you
mark off the exact height, and what should you round the number to? What if some of
your friends cant stand?
These are just a few of the questions you would have to consider, and describe in detail,
in your sampling protocol for measuring heights. Table 5 lists essential components for
every sampling protocol.
4) Write out a series of DETAILED STEPS, indicating every aspect of the sampling process.
Provide enough detail so that a stranger, with no knowledge of your study at all, could read
your protocol and recreate it EXACTLY, with no guessing.
For most of your labs, the sampling protocols will be clearly defined and described for
you. But not yet. Here, you need to develop, describe, and follow your own sampling
protocol for measuring hair lengths. The data you gather will be necessary for the rest of
this lab.
Measuring hair lengths isnt particularly exciting, but its an easy way to become familiar
with sampling protocols, metric measurements, and methods of data analysis. You will
need these skills for the rest of this course.
Procedure:
1) You will be measuring the lengths of hairs to the NEAREST MILLIMETER, and
comparing these lengths, from two different sampling locations. Choose one of the
following comparisons to make. Youll probably want to choose one thats easy for you to
gather samples.
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2) For each of the two sampling locations that youll be comparing, you will need to
measure the lengths of TEN different hairs to the nearest mm. So, if youre comparing the
length of eyebrow hair to arm hair, youll need to measure the lengths of ten eyebrow
hairs, and ten arm hairs.
To make your measurements, you MUST use a metric ruler, and measure to the
NEAREST MILLIMETER. If you don't own a metric ruler, you need to borrow or buy one.
Take a close look at your metric ruler. The numbered lines should be a little less than
one-half inch across. These are centimeters.
Each centimeter should contain ten smaller, unlabeled lines, with the fifth line being
slightly longer than the others. These unlabeled lines, each about the thickness of a dime,
are millimeters.
You need to be familiar with centimeters and millimeters and you must use a metric ruler.
You CAN'T use inches. Figure 1 compares the relative size of an inch to centimeters and
millimeters.
3) Using Table 5 as a guide, write out a detailed, accurate, and comprehensive sampling
protocol in your Workbook. You may want to practice different techniques before you
decide on one that works best. Be sure to include everything in Table 5. Be sure to
include exactly how you gathered your hairs, as well as how you measured them. Your
protocol can be in list form. College-level grammar and logic are essential for full points.
4) Using your protocol, measure the lengths of ten hairs from each of your two sample
locations. Record your measurements in your Workbook, including your UNITS, and the
IDENTITY of each sampled location for full points.
5) KEEP THE HAIRS that you measured. Your Instructor may require you to send in the
hairs to verify that you followed your protocol correctly.
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Exercise 7: Descriptive Statistics: Sample Size
Take a look at the hair lengths that you just recorded. These numbers are called RAW
DATA. Can you see any kinds of trends or patterns in your data? Probably not.
People are not very good at looking at a bunch of numbers, and figuring out what they
mean. This is a problem. Some scientific studies create thousands of pieces of raw data.
Imagine looking at TEN THOUSAND NUMBERS, and trying to figure out what they mean.
We need to DO SOMETHING to the raw data to help us notice any interesting trends and
patterns. Essentially, we need to SIMPLIFY the data, so our brains can handle them. We
do this with DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS, which are numerical ways to summarize data.
There are many different kinds of descriptive statistics that can be useful. Commonly,
three DIFFERENT KINDS of statistics are reported in scientific studies: Sample Size, a
Measure of Central Tendency, and a Measure of Variability.
The simplest descriptive statistic is the SAMPLE SIZE, which is often abbreviated n (an
italicized letter n). The sample size is a count of the total number of items from which you
took measurements. The Sample Size comes from the ITEM THAT YOU MEASURE, not
the MEASUREMENTS that you take. This can cause confusion, so be careful!
Look over the examples below. Make sure you understand them before continuing.
Notice Example c in particular. The Sample Size is 200 mice. The Sample Size is NOT
151 accounts of tumors, and it is NOT 175 tumors. The MEASUREMENTS that were
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taken were 151 accounts of tumors, and 175 tumors. The ITEMS that were measured
were the original 200 mice.
Practice Questions:
Determine the Sample Size for each of the following. Be sure to include the UNITS in
your answer. Check your answers below.
HINT: First determine what measurements were taken, then determine what item was
measured. Realize that the MEASUREMENTS taken, and the ITEM thats measured,
cant be the same thing.
Workbook Questions:
There are no Workbook Questions for this Exercise. However, if you don't understand the
Practice Questions, you may have difficulty on later portions of this lab.
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Since many kinds of raw data behave this way, it is useful to have some way to identify
the middle value. MEASURES OF CENTRAL TENDENCY are descriptive statistics that
find the middle value in a set of raw data. There are many different measures of central
tendency, although the best one is usually the MEAN. The Mean is also called the
AVERAGE.
The Mean is easy to calculate. Simply add up all of the raw data, then divide by the
Sample Size.
Practice Questions:
Answer the following questions. Round answers to tenths. Be sure to include UNITS in
your answers. Check your answers below. You can calculate Means by hand, with a
calculator, with a spreadsheet program such as Excel, or with an online calculator such
as www.easycalculation.com.
1) Eight students took a 100-point exam. Their scores were 56, 75, 99, 43, 55, 65, 12,
and 50 points. What was the Mean score?
2) Three students each measure the lengths of 2 hairs on their heads. The lengths were:
10, 11, 30, 36, 16, and 19 cm. What is the average hair length?
3) Mercury is about 58 Gigameters from the sun. Pluto is about 5,913 Gigameters from
the sun. What is the Mean distance from the sun?
4) The Earth is about 150 Gigameters from the sun. Is it closer to the sun than the Mean
distance (from Question 3), or farther from the sun than the Mean distance?
Workbook Questions:
There are no Workbook Questions for this Exercise. However, if you don't understand the
Practice Questions, you may have difficulty on later portions of this lab.
The Mean of Data Set A is 50. Notice that the raw data are quite variable. They go all the
way down to 1, and all the way up to 99. The Mean of Data Set B is also 50, but the raw
data are NOT very variable. They only go down to 48, and only up to 52.
In other words, the VARIABILITY of Set A is greater than the variability of Set B.
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MEASURES OF VARIABILITY indicate how variable raw data are. They indicate whether
all of the raw data values are SIMILAR to each other, or are all DIFFERENT from each
other.
How can we measure variability? The easiest measurement to calculate is the RANGE.
It's simply the highest number in the data set minus the lowest number. So, the Range for
Data Set A is 99-1, which is 98. The Range for Data Set B is 52-48, which is 4. Since
Data Set A has a larger Range, we can say that is it more VARIABLE than Data Set B.
The Range is easy to calculate, but for a variety of mathematical reasons, it's not a very
good measure of variability. A better measure of variability is something called the
Average Deviation. The Average Deviation is the AVERAGE amount that points in a data
set DEVIATE from the MEAN of that data set. For example, let's look at Data Set B again:
How far does each point in the set deviate from the mean? Let's take a look.
We have now figured out how much each data point DEVIATES from the mean. These
new numbers are our DEVIATIONS. Now, we just need to take the AVERAGE of these
deviations, which is:
1.2 is the Average Deviation from the mean. Our mean for this example was 50. So, on
average, our data points deviate from 50 by 1.2 points.
In other words, on average, our data points go DOWN from the mean to about 48.8 (i.e.
50-1.2), and UP from the mean to 51.2 (i.e. 50+1.2). Or, to say it another way, both 48.8
and 51.2 represent data points which deviate from the mean by an average amount in this
set of data.
So, 50 is the best measurement of a middle point for this set of data, while 48.8 and 51.2
represent good measurements of how much the other data points DEVIATE from this
mean. Since 48.8 and 51.2 are pretty close to 50, we can see that our data points dont
deviate very far from the mean. In other words, this data set isnt very variable.
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Now you understand the statistic called the AVERAGE DEVIATION FROM THE MEAN,
and the logic behind it. The AVERAGE DEVIATION from the mean is a good measure of
variability.
But wait! There are some mathematical reasons why the Average Deviation isnt the
BEST way to measure variability. Instead, there is something called the STANDARD
DEVIATION. It is ALMOST the same as the Average Deviation. The logic behind it is the
same. But, theres a bit of mathematical trickery that goes on when calculating the
Standard Deviation, and its beyond the scope of this course.
Just take it for granted that the Standard Deviation is better at capturing the concept of
variability than the Average Deviation, even though its VERY similar. The Standard
Deviation is too complicated to calculate by hand. Luckily, many calculators can do it
for you. All you need to remember is the LOGIC behind what the Standard Deviation
means.
Practice Questions:
Answer the following questions. Round answers to tenths. Be sure to include units in your
answers. You cant calculate the Standard Deviation by hand. You need to use a
calculator that has a Standard Deviation function, a spreadsheet program such as Excel,
or an online calculator such as www.easycalculation.com. Check your answers below.
Ten students in a college Biology class are the following ages: 17, 20, 20, 21, 18, 18, 18,
18, 20, and 17 years.
A professor asked each one of his students to record the time they spent studying for the
final exam. He summarized the Raw Data with the following statistics: n = 35 students,
Mean time spent studying = 5 hours. On average, study time in this class went up to
about 9.5 hours, and down to about 0.5 hours.
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2) 18.7 years
3) 1.4 years
4) 17.3 years
5) 20.1 years
6) The ages in this class are not very variable.
7) 35 students
8) 4.5 hours. How can you figure this out? If the average study time is 5 hours, and 5 plus
one Standard Deviation is 9.5 hours, then the Standard Deviation must be 4.5 hours.
Additionally, if 5 minus one Standard Deviation is 0.5 hours, then this also indicates
that the Standard Deviation must be 4.5 hours.
9) The study time is very variable. Although students studied on average 5 hours, some
studied for almost twice as long, while others studied for only half an hour.
Incidentally, this example shows that time is not always measured using the Metric
system, even by scientists. Scientists tend to use the Metric system for measurements
less than a second (such as milliseconds), but not for measurements greater than a
second. Scientists still use terms like minutes and hours. Its very rare that youll hear
anyone talk about kiloseconds or Megaseconds.
Workbook Questions:
There are no Workbook Questions for this Exercise. However, if you don't understand the
Practice Questions, you may have difficulty on later portions of this lab.
Now its time to calculate Descriptive Statistics for your hair length data. Here is a
summary of the Statistics:
Mean A measure of central tendency Indicates the middle of a set of raw data.
Also called the average.
Procedure:
1) For each of your two Sample Locations separately, calculate the Sample Size, the
Mean, and the Standard Deviation. Record your answers in your Workbook. Make sure
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you indicate the IDENTITY of each sampling location, and indicate your UNITS. Round
fractional numbers to tenths.
Look at your statistics, and answer the following questions. Be sure to include the UNITS
in your answers. Record your answers in your Workbook.
Still, this is not enough. Even a small set of numbers can be confusing. People simply
arent good at interpreting numbers. On the other hand, people are excellent at
interpreting visual information. Have you ever heard the phrase a picture is worth a
thousand words? Well, a picture is also worth about a thousand numbers.
Because humans are so adept with pictures, VISUAL SUMMARIES of Raw Data are
usually used to complement Descriptive Statistics. These visual summaries are generally
called FIGURES. Often, Figures are actually summaries of the descriptive statistics
themselves.
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So, if we have these statistics: n = 34, mean = 15, standard deviation = 2.5
Practice Questions:
Answer the following questions, which refer to the Statistics and Figure above. Check
your answers below.
1) Why does the y-axis for this Figure begin with the number zero, instead of some other
number?
2) Why does the y-axis for this Figure end at the number 20, instead of a smaller number,
such as 16?
3) Why does the y-axis for this Figure end at the number 20, instead of a large number,
such as 100?
4) How is the Mean represented in this Figure, and what number does it sit next to on the
y-axis?
5) How is the Standard Deviation represented in this Figure?
6) Look at the line coming out of the top of the dot. What number does it sit next to on the
y-axis, and why?
7) Look at the line coming out of the bottom of the dot. What number does it sit next to on
the y-axis, and why?
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We can put data from MORE than one data set in the same Figure. To do this:
Suppose we have the following statistics for two 100-point exams, taken by Biology 100
students:
Our Figure for these statistics would be the following. (Its called Figure 2, because there
was already a Figure 1 in this lab, back in Exercise 6.)
Practice Questions:
Answer the following questions, which refer to the Statistics and Figure below. Check
your answers below.
1) The Standard Deviation lines for Exam 1 go up to _____ points and down to _____
points.
2) The Standard Deviation lines for Exam 2 go up to _____ points and down to _____
points.
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3) If you could only see Figure 2, and NOT the original statistics used to create it, would
you be able to determine the EXACT values for the means and standard deviations?
Or, would your numbers simply be ESTIMATES?
Workbook Questions:
There are no Workbook Questions for this Exercise. However, if you don't understand the
Practice Questions, you may have difficulty on later portions of this lab.
Most PC users already have a free program called Paint installed on their computer. You
should be able to find it by clicking on the Start Menu, then using the Search function.
The icon for the program is a cup with pencils and paint brushes in it. Once youve found
Paint, you might want to right-click on it and put a bookmark for it on your desktop, so you
can easily return to it in the future.
If your PC doesnt have Paint, or if you want to use more powerful software, you can
download a free program called Paint.NET. This is available at www.getpaint.net (see
instructions in the syllabus).
If you have access to other graphics programs and know how to use them, thats fine too.
However, you CAN NOT use a graphing program for this course. A graphing program
automatically creates a Figure after you type in your data.
Once youve got a graphics program up and running, play around with it. Use whatever
help menus are available with the program to Figure out its various tools and abilities.
Procedure:
1) In the same location as this Investigation online, there is a file called Blank Axes.
Open this file with your graphics software. You should see a y-axis and x-axis, similar to
Figure 2 in Exercise 11 above, but without any data.
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2) Use the Blank Axes to recreate, as closely as possible, Figure 2 from Exercise 11.
Your software will have tools that allow you to draw straight lines, and circles. Your
software will also allow you to type text. Do not try to draw lines, circles, or text freehand.
Find, and learn, the correct tools.
3) Finally, make sure you can save file in either JPEG format, or GIF format. When you
click to save something, you should get a drop-down menu with these format choices.
If you have difficulty, use your graphics programs help menus. You can also ask your
classmates and/or Instructor for help.
Once youre able to recreate a Figure that resembles Figure 2 from Exercise 11 above,
then you can continue with the next Exercise.
Procedure:
1) Use the Blank Axes file to create a Figure for your hair length Statistics from Exercise
10. You must draw your own Figure. You can't use software that automatically draws
Figures.
2) Save your Figure as a JPEG or GIF file. Then, insert the Figure into the appropriate
place in your Workbook. There should be an Insert Picture command somewhere in
your Word Processing Softwares menus. Or, you can try cutting and pasting your
Figure into your Workbook.
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This Investigation has covered a large amount of information. You now understand the
basic set of tools that all scientists use. This set of tools includes the Scientific Method,
the Metric System, Sampling Protocols, Descriptive Statistics, and Figures.
Theres one more essential component to the process of science. How does a scientist
know if their results are meaningful?
The results in Figure 2 seem to show that students, on average, did a bit better on Exam
1, and that the scores were a bit more variable for Exam 2. From this, you might be
tempted to guess that Exam 2 was more difficult, or that students didnt study as hard for
it.
But, theres another possibility. Perhaps the differences between Exam 1 and Exam 2 are
simply the result of RANDOM VARIATION, and dont indicate that there is any
IMPORTANT difference between the Exams or the students study habits. In other words,
perhaps the differences between Exam 1 and Exam 2 are actually MEANINGLESS.
How can we tell whether these results indicate that there ARE meaningful differences
between Exam 1 and Exam 2, or that there ARE NOT meaningful differences?
This is an enormous problem in most scientific work, and the answer is not
straightforward. In fact, the entire branch of mathematics known as Statistics is largely
devoted to answering this question.
There are many specialized statistical tests which will determine whether results indicate
meaningful differences between groups or not. These tests are beyond the scope of this
course.
However, we can use a simple, largely accurate set of rules to make decisions in this
course. Here are the rules:
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- If the Standard Deviation lines on a Figure OVERLAP BY MORE THAN A TINY
AMOUNT, then the groups probably are NOT different in any meaningful way.
Notice that the Standard Deviation lines for Exam 1 and Exam 2 overlap one another
almost completely. In other words, if you drew the Statistics for Exam 1 and Exam 2 in the
same space, rather than separating them along the x-axis, they would overlap almost
completely:
This indicates that the scores on Exam 1 and Exam 2 are NOT MEANINGFULLY
DIFFERENT. Students did just as well on Exam 2 as on Exam 1.
Suppose that the scores on Exam 1 and 2 had looked more like this:
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The Standard Deviations for THESE two Exams dont overlap at all. If you drew them in
the same space, the Statistics for the two Exams would be completely non-overlapping:
In this case, the differences between the two Exams WOULD BE MEANINGFUL. They
would indicate that students did considerably worse on Exam 2.
Its standard practice in scientific studies to use the term significant instead of
meaningful. However, the use of this word indicates that special statistical tests have
been performed on the data to determine whether they are meaningful or not. Since we
cant actually do those tests here, well stick with the word meaningful.
Practice Questions:
Examine the following Figures, which represent Means and Standard Deviations for two
different groups. For each one, indicate whether the groups are meaningfully different or
not. You DONT need any further information, such as the actual scale on the y-axis, to
determine whether the groups are meaningfully different. Check your answers below.
1) 2) 3)
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4) 5)
Workbook Questions:
There are no Workbook Questions for this Exercise. However, if you don't understand the
Practice Questions, you may have difficulty on later portions of this lab.
Workbook Question:
Look at the Figure you created for your hair length Statistics. Answer the following
question.
1) You sampled hairs from two different locations. Do the hairs from those two locations
have meaningfully different lengths? Simply answer YES or NO in your Workbook.
For the quiz you will be asked to answer questions about the following data on
lengths of hairs taken from two different locations on a dog:
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Sample Location 1: Sample Location 2:
Dogs Back Dogs Belly
Hair
Lengths:
1 60 mm 45 mm
2 63 mm 48 mm
3 58 mm 58 mm
4 69 mm 42 mm
5 65 mm 51 mm
6 72 mm 52 mm
7 71 mm 35 mm
8 64 mm 54 mm
9 59 mm 56 mm
10 65 mm 41 mm
1. Summarize the Quiz Data with Statistics by completing the table in the
workbook.
3. Is there a meaningful difference in the hair length from Location 1 and the
hair length from Location 2?
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Credits:
This lab was developed by Professor Brian Wainscott, and modified by Professor Dawn
Nelson.
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