Tools of Science: Testable Questions
Summary
TLDRThis educational video script delves into the scientific method, emphasizing the significance of asking testable questions. It introduces marine microbiologists Kim and Kay, who investigate how light influences the interaction between a phytoplankton species and its infecting virus. The script outlines the SMART criteria for formulating testable questions: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Temporal. Through their research, Kim and Kay exemplify the scientific process, guiding viewers to understand how to transform a broad inquiry into a precise, investigable question.
Takeaways
- 🔬 Scientists are driven by curiosity and ask testable questions to understand phenomena.
- 🌐 Marine microbiologists Kim and Kay study how light affects interactions between phytoplankton and viruses in the ocean.
- 🤔 Initial curiosity questions often lead to scientific research but need to be refined into testable questions.
- 🔍 The SMART acronym (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Temporal) helps in formulating testable questions.
- 🎯 A testable question should have a clear, single answer to be effective for scientific inquiry.
- ⚖️ Measurable questions allow for quantifiable results, which are essential for scientific experiments.
- 🏋️ Achievable questions consider the resources and time available for conducting experiments.
- 🌊 Relevance ensures that the question pertains to the actual conditions and context of the study, such as the natural environment of the organisms.
- ⏳ Temporal considerations mean that the question should be relevant to a specific time frame, aligning with the natural processes being studied.
- 🧪 Professional scientists continuously practice thinking scientifically to ensure their questions are testable and yield meaningful results.
Q & A
What is the common trait among all scientists regardless of their field of study?
-All scientists, regardless of their field, share a natural curiosity and start their research with a testable question.
What is the role of light in the research conducted by Kim and Kay?
-In the research by Kim and Kay, light is studied for its role in mediating host-virus interactions in the ocean, specifically how it may structure infection processes.
Why are testable questions essential in scientific research?
-Testable questions are essential because they allow scientists to design experiments that yield meaningful results, which are crucial for advancing scientific understanding.
What does the acronym SMART stand for in the context of formulating testable questions?
-In the context of formulating testable questions, SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Temporal.
How does the specificity of a question influence the design of scientific experiments?
-A specific question allows for the design of experiments that can provide definitive yes or no answers, which is necessary for obtaining meaningful results.
What challenges does Kim face when trying to measure the effect of light on the viral process?
-Kim faces the challenge that light affects both the host and the virus, so the range of light tested must be narrow enough to affect the virus without impacting the host's well-being.
Why is it important for a testable question to be achievable?
-A testable question must be achievable to ensure that the necessary resources, time, and conditions are available to perform the experiment and obtain valid results.
How does the relevance of a question impact its importance in scientific research?
-A question's relevance ensures that the research is focused on phenomena that are significant and applicable to the real-world context, making the findings more meaningful.
What does the temporal aspect of a testable question imply for the design of experiments?
-The temporal aspect of a testable question implies that the experiments should be designed within a specific time frame that is relevant to the phenomenon being studied.
How do professional scientists ensure their questions are testable without consciously using the SMART acronym?
-Professional scientists ensure their questions are testable by continuously practicing scientific thinking, which includes implicitly considering the SMART criteria to formulate meaningful and answerable questions.
Outlines
🔬 The Role of Testable Questions in Scientific Inquiry
This paragraph introduces the concept of scientific curiosity and the importance of asking testable questions in the scientific process. It highlights the work of marine microbiologists Kim and Kay, who are investigating how light affects the interaction between a specific phytoplankton, Emiliana huxleyi, and the virus that infects it. The paragraph emphasizes the journey from a broad curiosity to a specific, testable question, which is crucial for designing meaningful experiments. The SMART acronym (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Temporal) is introduced as a tool to refine a broad question into a testable one. The focus is on making the question specific by narrowing down the effects of light on the host-virus interaction to a yes-or-no answer, which is essential for experimental design.
🌐 Applying the SMART Acronym to Refine Scientific Questions
This paragraph delves deeper into the SMART acronym, illustrating how each criterion is applied to refine a scientific question. It discusses the importance of having measurable results, achievable experiments within the constraints of resources and time, and relevance to the natural environment where the organisms live. The paragraph also addresses the temporal aspect of the question, emphasizing the need for a time-bound inquiry that aligns with the biological processes being studied. The scientists' quest to understand the effects of light on the viral infection process within the first 24 to 48 hours post-infection is highlighted. The paragraph concludes by stressing the importance of asking testable questions for conducting meaningful scientific experiments and obtaining valuable insights.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Testable Question
💡Curiosity
💡SMART Acronym
💡Phytoplankton
💡Virus
💡Light Intensity
💡Wavelength
💡Infection Process
💡Flow Cytometer
💡Temporal
💡Achievable
Highlights
Scientists are naturally curious and their work begins with a curiosity to understand phenomena.
Testable questions are at the core of scientific inquiry.
Kim and Kay, marine microbiologists, study the role of light in mediating host-virus interactions in the ocean.
Phytoplankton, like Emiliana huxleyi, use sunlight for photosynthesis, indicating the importance of light for their growth.
The initial broad question about light's effect on host-virus interactions is not testable due to its vagueness.
The SMART acronym (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Temporal) is introduced to refine questions into testable form.
For a question to be testable, it must be specific with a defined answer.
Measurable questions should lead to quantifiable results, such as the amount of light or infected cells.
Achievable questions consider the availability of resources and time to conduct experiments.
Relevance ensures the question's applicability to the context, such as the wavelengths of light present in the ocean.
Temporal questions are grounded in time, aligning with the timeframe of the phenomena being studied.
The refined testable question focuses on the effect of light wavelengths and intensities on the virus within a specific time frame.
Professional scientists continuously practice scientific thinking to ensure their questions are testable.
The video encourages viewers interested in the tools of science to subscribe for more content.
Transcripts
there's all kinds of different
scientists out there working all over
the world in all different kinds of
environments researching all different
kinds of topics but they all have one
thing in common they ask questions
scientists are naturally curious right
that's so it all starts with sort of
just a curiosity to know what's
happening in something but to actually
find out what's happening in something
scientists have to ask a very specific
type of question called the testable
question to understand why testable
questions are at the heart of science
we're going to look at the work that Kim
and Kay are doing Kay vital and Kim two
mantra : our marine microbiologist at
Rutgers University the work that we're
doing is looking at the role that light
plays in mediating host fires'
interactions in the ocean could light be
structuring infection in the infection
process itself let's back up given Kay's
team studies the interaction between a
tiny phytoplankton called Emiliana
Huxley eye or yucks
and the virus that infects E Hux these
guys are phytoplankton and they use
sunlight to make their own food which
means they need light to grow these guys
infect these guys and kill them when Kim
and Kay were on an expedition together
they wondered whether light was
affecting the interaction between hosts
and virus they were curious like well
how does that work Kim wondered how does
light affect this host virus interaction
well this is a great initial curiosity
question that often initiates scientific
research it's not a testable question
because it could be a number of
different answers it can affect the
virus itself it can lead to viral decay
it can enhance growth rate of the host
and so therefore it stimulates viral
production how does light do it is not
there's too many ways to answer that
question this distinction may seem a
little subtle so to help understand what
makes a question testable we'll use the
smart acronym where smart stands for
specific measurable achievable relevant
and temporal we're going to go through
each one by taking our initial broad
question and then modifying it into an
actual testable question that Kay
Kim's team tested so starting with s
specific for a question to be testable
it needs to be specific meaning you
should be asking a question that has one
defined answer this is why you can't
just say how it is light effect post
fires interactions and there are just a
million different ways to answer that
there's no defined answer and with no
defined answer you can't design an
experiment that will give you meaningful
results but if you say does light effect
post virus interactions then your answer
is either yes or it's no that's specific
now you can design experiments to test
that question in order to answer that
specific question we have to design a
number of different experiments it's not
one experiment per question that's
because light is still very broad light
can have different intensities and it
can have different wavelengths we did an
experiment where we infected in the dark
and then we did an experiment we
infected in constant light and then we
did an experiment at different lighter
radiances so for our initial question to
be testable we need to think about how
to make it specific so it becomes this
does light at different wavelengths and
intensities affect host virus
interaction so specific check next and
measurable testable question should lead
to answers that have measurable results
so is the answer to this question
measurable well you can measure the
amount of light organisms get you can
measure the brightness of the light you
can measure the amount of infected cells
versus non infected cells in a sample
but if you want to measure the effect of
light on the viral process of infection
you have to be able to measure what's
going on with just the virus and one of
the challenges that Kim faced is that
light affects both posts and viruses and
so if you test a you know too big of a
range of light now you've got a
situation where not enough light and the
host is unhappy and too much light and
the host is unhappy Kim and Kay's team
were able to find a narrow range of
light intensities that effect the virus
but keep the host happy so they know the
question they are asking is measurable
so we can modify this question
accordingly does light at different
wavelengths and intensities that don't
affect the host affect the virus so
measurable check ok next egg achievable
whether you are in a science
or a professional scientist you need to
ask do I have the stuff to do this thing
in the time I have we push our students
to recognize that there are constraints
in terms of what they can do in the
classroom with science with the time and
the supplies that we have but we
parallel this to the constraints that a
scientist would see in the field they
have more resources available and more
time available to them but they still go
through the same process so is our
question achievable well to answer this
we eat stuff like lights that can be
adjusted to specific brightnesses
bottles for samples a big machine called
a flow cytometer that can count infected
cells and finally you need samples of
cells the organisms we study we can grow
in the lab and we can do controlled
experiments but ultimately we want to
know what are they doing out in nature
in this big ocean at this small scale in
a really big place and so we want to try
and replicate that so when we're
actually going in and designing a
testable question or a process that
we're trying to measure at sea can we
achieve that condition that's gonna
actually allow us to answer that
question that we're asking so if you
have the stuff and you have the time
then it's achievable check so the
question becomes does light at different
wavelengths and intensities that don't
affect the host effect the virus given
that our equipment and the time we have
allows us to perform an experiment on
this organism that can be successfully
grown in a lab next relevant is this
question even relevant for example our
question so far is specific measurable
and achievable but what if here we're
asking about wavelengths of light that
aren't even present in the ocean well
obviously if these guys live in the
ocean and there's not a lot of red and
yellow light where they are it's not
relevant to ask about those wavelengths
of light so the question becomes does
light at the wavelengths present in the
ocean and intensities that don't affect
the host affect the virus even that our
equipment and the time we have allows us
to perform an experiment relevance check
finally temporal the question should be
grounded in time so back to our question
does this question relate to a specific
time the infection process that we study
takes place over a certain you know a
few days three to four days so the
experiments that we set up are not going
to gonna you know run out for you know
weeks at a time so we may be interested
in asking questions
within the first 24 hours you can't do
an experiment that never ends that's why
your testable question has to have a
time component to it temporal check now
finally we have arrived at our big
testable question does light at the
wavelengths present in the ocean and
intensities that don't affect the host
affect the virus in the first 24 to 48
hours of infection our equipment because
professional scientists practice
thinking scientifically all the time
they don't need to consciously go
through this smart acronym every time
they ask a question nor do they always
arrive at one master question like we've
done here but they are always making
sure that the questions they're asking
are testable so they can run experiments
and get answers that are actually
meaningful if you like the tools of
science please subscribe and if you want
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