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Scientific Observation — Definition & Examples

Practice

Interactive · 1 question

By Sylvia Freeman
+1 contributors
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Quantitative and Qualitative Observations

This is a comic strip explaining what an observation is. This panel shows a lovely frog narrator. The text reads: "Observations use the senses to gather information from the natural world.
This is the next panel in the comic strip explaining what an observation is. This panel shows five frogs with each frog demonstrating one of the five senses. The text reads: "Scientists will observe nature using the five senses: Sight, smell, sound, taste, and touch."
This is the next panel in the comic strip explaining what an observation is. This panel shows a frog in lab safety gear watching a chemical reaction on a lab bench. The frog is writing down its observations. The text reads: "Observations are how scientific data gets collected in experiments. Observations can also lead to developing new experiments."
This is the next panel in the comic strip explaining what an observation is. This panel shows a frog who is saying: "If the thing you are observing can be measured or counted, then you are making a quantitative observation."
This is the next panel in the comic strip explaining what an observation is. This panel shows five fetching young frogs, posing as if they are in a boy band. The text reads: "For example, if you said 'there are five frogs here', it would be a qualitative observation because you can give it a numerical value".

This is a rare photo of the world-famous Tadpoles II Frogs boys, back in their early days. How young and lively they look.

This is the next panel in the comic strip explaining what an observation is. This panel shows a frog who is saying: "If the thing you are observing can't really be clearly measured (such as color, taste, etc.), then it is a qualitative observation".
This is the last panel in the comic strip explaining what an observation is. This panel shows two frogs. The one on the left has very long legs, while the one on the right is shorter. The short frog looks up apprehensively at the tall frog and thinks, "Dang...". The text reads: "If you said that the young man here on the left is very tall, that would be a qualitative observation".
This image shows a frog carrying two big bowls of food he made. He is very proud of his cooking.

Image source: By Sylvia Freeman

Which of these is a quantitative observation about the image above?

Choose one answer

Interactive · 2 questions

By Deena Hauze
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Contributors

Observation

Using one of the senses (hearing, sight, touch, etc.) or measurements to gather information.

  • Quantitative observations are those that answer the questions "How many?" or "How much?". In other words, these are observations that count things and have to do with numbers, amounts, and measurements. They are unbiased and easier to compare than qualitative observations.
A bunch of corgis are chasing a stick. There is a text box stating, "Quantitative Observation: There are six corgis in the group."

Image source: By Daniel Stockman CC BY-SA 2.0, via flickr.com

Which of the following is a quantitative observation?

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Video

By Valeri Natole
+1 contributors
Contributors

(Video) Science With Sophie 0.1: Observations

by Science With Sophie

How do we—and how don't we—make observations every day? In this video, Sophie uses an experiment to explain what observations are and how we observe the world around us.

Read · 1 min

By Daniel
+2 contributors
Contributors

What Is an Observation?

An observation is typically the beginning of the scientific method. An observation of the connection between two or more events may lead to an inference about the explanation for this connection. This inference may then lead to a testable hypothesis, which can then be tested through an experiment.

Observations can be physically observed through one of the five senses.

Video

By Mario Janakis

(Video) The Scientific Method

by Teacher's Pet

This video explains how observations fit into the scientific method. All science starts with observations and a hypothesis.

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Type a concept, like “slope” or “photosynthesis”.

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