- Find an article that makes a scientific claim that you can analyze and follow the instructions below. Review the powerpoint on the scientific process if you have not yet. Your submission must answer all questions and evaluate type of science and why.
Article Assignment: Evaluation of Scientific/Technology Claims
Can be from internet, newspaper, journal, etc.
Must have a scientific/technology claim
Read and analyze, Do write up that answers the following and either paste in text box or attach to assignment, along with article or article link:
- What was the hypothesis of the study?
- What were the conclusions?
- What data was used to support the hypothesis/conclusions?
- Was the hypothesis proven or disproven?
- Is it 1) tentative/frontier, 2) reliable or 3) unreliable science?
- Why or why not?
- If it is tentative/unreliable science, what data/research etc. would have made a better case?
Tentative science, frontier science- preliminary results that are not yet widely tested or peer reviewed. Often in news headlines, some will be validated and others discredited Reliable science- data, hypotheses, theories and laws that are widely accepted by scientific experts Unreliable science- hypotheses and results that are presented as reliable w/out peer review or discarded by peer review To detect unreliable science ask: Was the experiment well designed? Enough testing? Data supporting hypothesis verified? Results reproduced by other scientists? Do hypothesis and conclusions follow logically from the data? Unbiased investigators? (agenda, funding, etc.) Conclusions verified by impartial peer review? Conclusions widely accepted by other scientists in the field? If yes, reliable. If no, tentative or unreliable