BIO80005 Practice questions

1. Compare and contrast the following pairs of terms:

 Research topic and research question

 Hypothesis and theory

2. Outline the scientific process.

3. What are the main reasons for conducting a literature review?

4. Name four different types of peer-reviewed articles, and classify each as a primary or
secondary source.

5. Under what circumstances is it acceptable to cite a website?

6. What aspects of a project should be covered within the research design?

7. Compare and contrast fundamental and applied research.

8. Define each of the following:

 Case studies
 Cross-sectional research
 Longitudinal studies
 Time-series
 Panel studies
 Cohort studies

9. What is the biggest difference between qualitative and quantitative data?

10. Compare exploratory, descriptive and explanatory research in terms of how/when each is
most useful.

11. What three factors must be established in order to validly claim a causal relationship?

12. What is external validity?

13. What are some of the risks to the internal validity of research?

14. Contrast inductive vs deductive reasoning.

15. Outline the ways in which bias, random errors and systematic errors can be minimized.

16. What are the purposes of:

 The blank
 The negative control
 The positive control