Introduction
Exam One covers materials presented in the PowerPoint presentations and class lectures. It contains two sections. In the first section, students will be asked to answer ten multiple-choice questions worth 2 points each. In the second section, students will be asked to answer two short-answer questions worth 10 points each.
There will be room on the back of the exam to write responses to the short-answer essay questions. You may bring ruled paper if you prefer. Blue Books are not necessary.
Dr. Sapp's Office Hours are MWF, 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m., or by appointment. Students are invited to come to the office at any time and I will be happy to discuss the class materials with you.
Readings:
The Philosophy of Science: Web Site, PowerPoint
Hypothesis Construction: Web Site, PowerPoint
Standard Error and Research Methods: PowerPoint
Science and Intelligent Design: PowerPoint
Class Notes.
Key Terms
Philosophy of Science
epistemology, logico-deduction, theory, positivism, operationalism, realism, nominalism, hypothetico-deductive approach, community of scholars, problem of deduction, problem of induction
Hypothesis Construction
theoretical proposition, research hypothesis, null hypothesis, Type-I error, Type-II error, substantive significance.
Standard Error and Research Methods
central limit theorem, normal curve, sampling error, measurement error, standard deviation, standard error, t-ratio.
Science and Intelligent Design
ontology, affirming the consequent, syllogism, intelligent design
Topics for the Short-Answer Essay Questions for Exam #1
- Be prepared to describe the rules of positivism and why are they impossible to follow in practice? What is the value of the positivist paradigm for scientific inquiry?
- Be prepared to describe the hypothetico-deductive approach to decision making. Describe the problems of deduction and induction that hinder the objectivity of this approach.
- Be prepared to describe the community-of-scholars approach to conducting good science. Describe why this approach cannot guarantee objective decisions about the quality of scientific investigations.
- Be prepared to write hypotheses when given the level of measurement for the independent and dependent variables.
- Be prepared to define and describe the differences between standard deviation and standard error.
- Be prepared to describe measurement error, sampling error, and standard error in relation to one another.
- Be prepared to describe why standard error needs to be as small as possible. \
- Be prepared to describe why intelligent design cannot be science.
Help Session
Wednesday, September 9th, 5:00pm to 6:00pm, First Floor of East Hall.
