General Interview Questions - Scientific Method

A person dies. Describe in general detail what a scientific investigation of why death occurred might include. How does such a scientific investigation differ from a non-scientific explanation?

In some fields it is difficult to do an experiment; does that mean these subjects cannot be studied scientifically?
People use the words data, hypothesis, theory and law; what do they mean?
How do culture, prejudice and personal idiosyncrasies influence science?
Will different cultures produce different scientific explanations of the world?
 
Concept
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General
importance
1. Science is a social endeavor, and as such depends upon a community of scientists who accepts its ‘rules’.
2. The preparation of results for publication, their review, and the response of the scientific community is an integral part of the scientific process.
3. To be valid an experiment generally must include both positive and negative controls.
4. A positive control checks to see whether reagents and methods used produce the expected effects – whether they work. A negative control checks to see of the experimental effect observed is due to a specific change in the system.
5.Scientific questions are generally based on a working hypothesis. The question is framed to provide, if possible, an unambiguous yes/no answer.
6. If a question cannot be answered unambiguously, it needs to be reformulated. Often it must be simplified.
7. To be useful, it must be possible to accurately describe the conditions under which the experiment was carried out, the reagents used, etc., so that other can, if they desire, repeat and extend the observation.
8. Fruitful hypothesis are either revised or extended, they rarely remain constant.
9. As a hypothesis gains confirmation and is extended, it may become a well established theory. Theories may be modified, or subsumed by other more generally applicable or accurate theories, but are rarely abandoned in toto.
10. The more accurately measurements can be made, the more rigorously a hypothesis can be tested.

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Where do you teach?
I do not teach I teach, but not biology
I am researcher in the private sector
I teach elementary secondary college level biology

   
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