Observational Studies and Experiments

Is the following statement an observation or an inference?

The girl's shirt is red.

• observation

• inference

Is the following statement an observation or an inference?

The table is 1.5 meters long.

• observation

• inference

Tags

CCSS.4.MD.A.1

Is the following statement an observation or an inference?

The dog is hungry.

• observation

• inference

Why is it important for your procedures to be extremely detailed?

• So Mrs. Reynolds knows what you're actually doing

• So another scientist could replicate your experiment if they wanted to

• Because scientists love details

• So that every step is accounted for and documented

One group of subjects was given an herbal supplement and another group was given a placebo. After one year, the number of illnesses each group had was compared.

• Observational Study

• Experiment

Tags

CCSS.HSS.IC.B.3

CCSS.HSS.IC.B.5

A researcher stood at a school parking lot entrance to see if the color of a car is related to the driver not wearing a seatbelt.

• Observational Study

• Experiment

Tags

CCSS.HSS.IC.B.3

A professor finds that people who are obese have higher cholesterol levels than those who are not obese.

• Observational Study

• Experiment

Tags

CCSS.HSS.IC.B.3

You want to see if students who have a 4.0 grade point average study more than those who do not.

• experiment

• observational study

Tags

CCSS.HSS.IC.B.3

CCSS.HSS.IC.B.5

A psychologist designed a study to test the effects of cell phone use on driving safety. Participants were randomly assigned either to drive an automobile simulator while talking to a friend on a cell phone or to drive a simulator without talking on a phone.

Which type of research does the scenario describe?

• Experiment

• Observation

Tags

CCSS.HSS.IC.B.3

CCSS.HSS.IC.B.5

To test the effects of breakfast on grades I ask my students if they ate breakfast and then compare the breakfast eaters grades to the non-breakfast eaters.

This is an example of:

• Observational study

• Experiment

Tags

CCSS.HSS.IC.B.3