Understanding Science

• Office hours (ISC 3252)
  • Wednesdays, 2-3 pm (Instructor)
  • Fridays, 11 am - 12 pm (TA)
• Homework #1: Introduction to R, RStudio, and RMarkdown (posted on Blackboard under Assignments)
  • Due Monday, February 3, 11:59 pm
• Reading: OpenIntro Statistics, Chapter 5: Foundations of Inference

“In fact, the Scientific Method represents how scientists usually write up the results of their studies (and how a few investigations are actually done), but it is a grossly oversimplified representation of how scientists generally build knowledge.”
- Understanding Science

University of California Museum of Paleontology’s Understanding Science (http://www.understandingscience.org)

Difference is between how how science is done versus how science is reported.

Asteroids and dinosaurs: Unexpected twists and an unfinished story
(PDF version)

University of California Museum of Paleontology’s Understanding Science (http://www.understandingscience.org)

“…hypotheses, theories, and laws are rather like apples, oranges, and kumquats: one cannot grow into another, no matter how much fertilizer and water are offered.”
- Understanding Science

“Hypotheses, theories, and laws are all scientific explanations that differ in breadth — not in level of support.”
- Understanding Science

Hypothesis: Hypotheses are explanations that are limited in scope, applying to fairly narrow range of phenomena.

Theory: Theories are deep explanations that apply to a broad range of phenomena and that may integrate many hypotheses and laws.

“Science is based on the principle that any idea, no matter how widely accepted today, could be overturned tomorrow if the evidence warranted it. Science accepts or rejects ideas based on the evidence; it does not prove or disprove them.”
- Understanding Science