Unit quiz: Testing theories and interpreting models

Check understanding, separately from reading

5 questions · 80% to pass · no timer. This quiz checks the lessons in this unit. These authored questions assess recognition and application of the taught distinctions, not professional qualification. You may review the lessons and retry. Repeat attempts reuse the question bank; a remembered answer is not proof of transfer to a new situation.

Saving a lesson records reading only. Previous lesson completions have not been converted into passing scores. You can continue reading without a pass; the assessment remains unpassed.

Question 1

An instrument behaved consistently in all past trials. “It will behave consistently because it always has” is a useful inductive expectation, but not a non-circular proof that induction must work. A prediction supported by controlled trials may remain better than a guess while still falling short of deductive certainty.

Why does past inductive success not provide a non-circular ultimate defense?Projecting that success forward already uses inductionPast observations are logically impossible

Question 2

“This mechanism always produces a visible signal under specified conditions” excludes a no-signal result in those conditions. “Whatever happens reflects the mechanism’s hidden intention” excludes nothing unless intention independently constrains outcomes. The first can fail; that exposure is a strength of the test, not proof it passes.

What gives the first claim empirical risk?It cannot ever turn out falseIt identifies a possible observation that would conflict with it

Question 3

A theory predicts a signal if the detector works and the sample is prepared correctly. No signal may implicate the theory, detector, or preparation. An independently calibrated detector and replicated preparation reduce the alternatives. Rechecking auxiliaries is legitimate when tests can expose their failure independently.

What does the missing signal logically refute first?The combined package of theory and auxiliary assumptionsOnly the central theory, irrespective of the apparatus

Question 4

Two models fit the recorded motion of a system but disagree outside the measured range. Repeating the same narrow observations may add precision without separating them. Measuring in a feasible region of divergent prediction would be more discriminating, provided the instruments remain trustworthy there.

Which study best addresses this particular underdetermination?Repeat only cases on which their predictions agreeObserve a region where the models make different predictions

Question 5

A model invoking an unseen mechanism predicts new observations. A realist may treat that success as evidence the mechanism approximately exists as described. A cautious empiricist may accept the model’s observable consequences while withholding belief about the unobservable mechanism. Neither need deny the observed predictive success.

What remains disputed after both parties accept the predictions?Whether success warrants belief in the unobservable accountWhether the observed predictions succeeded at all

Continuing does not mark this assessment passed.

Progress stays in this browser, on this device—not an account or cloud backup. Clearing browser data removes it. Visits never count as study. Previous untimed legacy completions are not invented as study days.