Topic 2

1. Science is __________.
A. a body of rigorously provable truths
B. an organized arrangement of known facts
C. a theoretical discipline that seeks to answer empirically humanity's deepest and most
fundamental questions
D. a method of inquiry that seeks to describe, explain, and predict occurrences in the
physical or natural world by means of careful observation and experiment

2. Which is NOT the basic pattern of scientific reasoning?

A. Testimonial
B. Gathering data
C. Identifying the problem
D. Formulating the hypotheses

3. Which of the following is NOT a scientific question?

A. Does the universe have a purpose?
B. Did the universe begin with a big bang?
C. Did human beings evolve from lower forms of life?
D. What are the fundamental building blocks of matter?

4. Which of the following claims are testable?

A. Smoking causes cancer
B. You were a koala in a previous life
C. Elves are move things instead of me
D. Every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings

5. __________ is a process of choosing only evidence which supports a favoured hypothesis,

prediction or belief.
A. Scientism
B. Hypothesis
C. Scientific law
D. Confirmation bias

6. __________ is a view that science is the only way of knowing anything and that it can answer
questions of value and meaning by showing everything to be meaningless and valueless.
A. Theory
B. Scientism
C. Hypothesis
D. False Science

7. Which of the following is NOT true of scientific claims?

A. A scientific claim must be testable in principle.
B. A scientific claim must be verifiable in principle.
C. A scientific claim must be falsifiable in principle.
D. A scientific claim must be a confirmed and undisputed fact.
8. To see if music interferes with memory, a psychologist conducts an experiment involving
students in a psychology class. The control group of this experiment consists of
__________.
A. students who listen to single music
B. students who do not listen to any music
C. students who listen to different types of music
D. students who listen to music and sing a song at the same time

9. To see if music interferes with memory, a psychologist conducts an experiment involving

students in a psychology class. What should be the finding of the experiment to confirm the
hypothesis that music does interfere with memory?
A. The experimental group significantly recalls more items than the control group.
B. The control group significantly recalls more items than the experimental group.
C. There is no significant difference between the experimental and the control group in
terms of the items recalled.
D. It does not matter which group performs better in terms of recalling the items as long
as the finding is significant enough.

10. In a controlled experimental study, why is random selection of participants necessary?

A. To ensure a sample of participants that is representative of the population
B. To ensure the participants can be divided to both experimental and control group
C. To ensure that it is the experimental condition being tested, and not some other factors
D. To ensure that any observed differences between the groups of participants are not
simply due to chance

11. Studies have shown that many people will experience improvement in their condition even if
they are given a sugar pill or some other treatment that is known to be worthless. This can
be controlled by __________.
A. making the study double-blind
B. using a placebo on the control group
C. treating the two groups, experimental and control, exactly alike
D. testing the significance of the statistical difference between the two groups,
experimental and control

12. Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of pseudoscience?

A. Pseudoscience is progressive.
B. Pseudoscience makes claims that are not testable.
C. Pseudoscience often involves no serious effort to conduct research.
D. Pseudoscience makes claims that are inconsistent with well-established scientific
truths.

13. Suppose I claim that cell phones cause tumors in your brain but refuse to run any tests to
confirm my hypothesis, claiming that it's just obvious that cell phones cause brain tumors
because they emit signals and we hold them close to our heads. What mistake have I made?
A. My language is too vague.
B. I failed to conduct research.
C. I have ignored falsifying evidence.
D. I have made a claim that is not testable.
T/F

1. Pseudoscientific theories often try to explain away falsifying data. T

2. A good scientific theory always makes claims that are testable. T
3. Findings inconsistent with well-established scientific theories should ordinarily be
rejected. T
4. A good scientist never admits when he or she is wrong. F
5. To be testable, a scientific claim must be expressed in clear, specific language. T
6. Good science is progressive. T
7. "Should cloning be permitted?" is a scientific question. F
8. Pseudoscience often makes claims that are not testable. T