Question

1) What misconceptions often rise around the idea of a scientific "theory"? What are the characteristics of good scientific theories?

2) Where have you seen statistical data (or charts or graphs) used in a way that obscures critical thinking? Describe the issues and how you might correct these.

Answer 1

1. The misconceptions often rise around the idea of a scientific "theory" is that the whole idea is about that it is just a theory. The difference in the word theory among the scientific use and colloquial is that it is shown as an proof which positively supports a hypothesis is factual.

The characteristics of good scientific theories are as follows:

i) Simple: The theory should not be basic but it should be simple so that it can be used and understood and required information could be taken from it.

ii) Can be replicable: The theories that are made should able to be replicable by others so that the adequate informations could be taken from the theory so that people can use it later.

iii) Testing: The theories should be in a way so that it can be supported with the help of different scientific research.

iv) Stable: It should also be stable which means when another individual persoms the theory then he must get the same outcome to show the validity.