Question: Modifications that are made to hypotheses to allow for unexpected or unfavorable pieces of evidence are called:
Answer Options:
a. Ad hoc modifications.
b. Hypothetical expansions.
c. Moot hypotheses.
d. Explanatory mutations.
e. Ex post facto modifications.
Answer: e. Ex post facto modifications.
Question: How well a hypothesis fits the facts it is intended to explain is a measure of its:
Answer Options:
a. Fruitfulness.
b. External consistency.
c. Adequacy.
d. Internal coherence.
Answer: c. Adequacy.
Question: The biologist John Needham hypothesized that:
Answer Options:
a. Life is created through the agency of hydrogen.
b. Life comes only from life.
c. Life is created by the action of oxygen on water.
d. The seeds of all living forms are hidden in a nutrient solution.
e. Microbes are deposited in nutrient solutions by dust particles in the air.
Answer: d. The seeds of all living forms are hidden in a nutrient solution.
Question: Superstitious claims are usually expressed in vague language. As a result:
Answer Options:
a. They engage only the emotions and never the intellect.
b. It is often difficult to distinguish one such claim from another.
c. Scientists have no interest in them.
d. It is usually impossible to subject them to empirical test.
e. They lend themselves too readily to ad hoc modifications.
Answer: a. They engage only the emotions and never the intellect.
Question: One of the problems that led to the discovery of atmospheric pressure was:
Answer Options:
a. Why Gasparo Berti’s experiment worked in Rome but not in Florence.
b. Why it was impossible to siphon mercury from one container to another.
c. Why suction pumps failed to work on mountain tops.
d. Why the water in Gasparo Berti’s glass pipe always descended to the same level.
e. Why water boils at a lower temperature on mountaintops than it does at sea level.
Answer: c. Why suction pumps failed to work on mountain tops.
Question: As a result of the application of Ockham’s razor, naturalistic explanations are preferred to supernatural explanations because:
Answer Options:
a. Naturalistic explanations lead to entirely new ways of viewing the world.
b. Naturalistic explanations are preferred by atheists.
c. Supernatural explanations are inconsistent with well-confirmed scientific theories.
d. Supernatural explanations are always contaminated by religious beliefs.
e. Supernatural explanations introduce a whole new set of entities into the picture.
Answer: d. Supernatural explanations are always contaminated by religious beliefs.
Question: One problem relating to the proof of hypotheses is that:
Answer Options:
a. Observation is theory dependent.
b. Hypotheses are not observable things.
c. Every hypothesis is eventually disproved.
d. The number of implications derivable from a hypothesis is limited.
e. Most hypotheses entail inconsistent implications.
Answer: a. Observation is theory dependent.
Question: Which of the following is NOT involved in the hypothetical method?
Answer Options:
a. The occurrence of a problem.
b. Drawing implications from the hypothesis.
c. Attempting to falsify the hypothesis.
d. Testing the implications.
e. Formulating a hypothesis.
Answer: c. Attempting to falsify the hypothesis.
Question: How well the component ideas in a hypothesis are interconnected is a measure of that hypothesis’s:
Answer Options:
a. Fruitfulness.
b. Internal coherence.
c. Adequacy.
d. Dependability.
e. External consistency.
Answer: b. Internal coherence.
Question: According to Karl Popper, genuinely scientific hypotheses must be:
Answer Options:
a. Falsifiable.
b. Testable.
c. Flexible.
d. Verifiable.
e. Applicable.
Answer: a. Falsifiable.
Question: The apparent power of a mere sugar pill to cure numerous bodily ailments is called:
Answer Options:
a. Confabulation.
b. Pareidolia.
c. The placebo effect.
d. The autokinetic effect.
e. The hypnagogic effect.
Answer: c. The placebo effect.
Question: One of the functions of a hypothesis is to:
Answer Options:
a. Close the gap between fact and theory.
b. Eliminate the need for evidence.
c. Introduce certainty into science.
d. Eliminate the need for an explanation.
e. Direct the search for evidence.
Answer: e. Direct the search for evidence.