Chapters 3&4

The field that focuses upon the collection, handling, validation, and interpretation of data.

The way that in which the data points spread out over all possible value

A part of philosophy that deals with questions that surround our understanding of right and wrong and helps us to decide in difficult cases what is the better pathway to follow.

The sum of the values of each of the individual data points divided by the total number of data points in the set.

The half-way point in the data – half of the data points present have greater and half have lesser values than the median.

A rough test to justify ejecting an outlying data point from a set.

The difference between the lowest and highest value in a set of data.

The field that focuses upon the collection, handling, validation, and interpretation of data.

The field that deals with representing the likelihood that a particular event or set of events will occur given a set of reference data.

The practice or set of beliefs that are not founded in the basics of the scientific method.

First presented by the English philosopher William of Ockham in the 1400’s, is a theory as to how to decide between two competing hypotheses that arrive at the same result.

Exaggerated or untestable claims; Based upon hearsay; Reluctance towards experimentation and reproducibility; Reliance upon confirmatory experiments rather than broad, open testing; Use of new terminology; rely upon a false authority; Random disregard of some facts or data;

The largest professional organization for forensic science, has established a set of ethical guidelines to help promote the highest standards of practice in the field.

m (Système International d’Unités) – An internationally agreed upon set of measures, based in the metric system, and including the following as the standard units: length (meter), mass (kilogram), temperature (Kelvin), time (second), quantity (mole), electrical current (ampere), and light Intensity (candela).

A form of microscopy in which the light passes directly through the sample to the viewer and where the background appears the brightest in the view and the sample appears relatively darker in comparison.

A form of microscopy in which a physical light block is used to stop all the directly transmitted light that would travel in a straight line from the light source, through the sample and into the lenses. The only light that enters the observing lens is light that has been scattered into the lens by the sample.

A form of microscopy that consists of two separate and complete microscopes that are joined together at the eyepieces allowing a simultaneous view two different samples.

A term that refers to the thickness of a sample that can be simultaneously viewed in focus and depends upon magnification where the depth of focus improves when the magnification of the lenses increases.

A form of microscopy that uses an electron beam to “illuminate” a sample, allowing magnifications of up to several million times.

A form of optical microscopy that irradiates a sample with light that excites molecules in the sample to emit fluorescent light that is then detected.

The lens in a microscope closest to the object being viewed.

The lens in a microscope closest to the viewer.

A microscope that forms an image by moving a focused beam of electrons across a sample and detecting the electrons scattered by the sample.

A type of light microscope that has a separate set of optics for each eye to give a three-dimensional appearance to a microscopic sample. The microscope usually uses reflected or scattered light rather than light transmitted through the sample.