5 Experimental Hypothesis

Question 1

 Thesis or main idea of an experiment
 Statement about the predicted relationship between at least 2 variables

Answer 1

Hypothesis

Question 2

 Statement of your predictions of how events, traits, or behaviors might be related
 Not cause and effect
 Phenomenology, case studies, naturalistic observations, qualitative studies and surveys of attitudes or opinions - do not typically include a hypothesis
 Straightforward predictions of the relationships the researcher expects to find between variables

Answer 2

Nonexperimental Hypothesis

Question 3

 Either true or false
 “Hungry students read slowly”
 Contradicted or supported
 “If… then” form
 “If you look at an appealing photograph, then your pupils will dilate”
 Can be true or false

Answer 3

Synthetic Statements

Question 4

 Means for manipulating antecedent conditions and measuring the resulting behavior must exist.

Answer 4

Testable Statements

Question 5

 Can be disprovable by research findings
 “If you read the book of Anne Myers’ Experimental Psychology carefully enough, then you will be able to design a good experiment”
 Experimental design is not very good
 It is not falsifiable
 Any failures to produce the predicted effect can be explained away by the researcher

Answer 5

Falsifiable Statements

Question 6

 Simple hypothesis
 “If you look at an appealing photograph, then your pupils will dilate”
 “If you look at an appealing photograph, then your pupils will dilate if it is a warm Saturday in June”

Answer 6

Parsimonious Statements

Question 7

 Leads to new studies
 When we can think of new studies that will become important if the hypothesis is supported
 Watson and Rayner’s 1920 study of classical conditioning
 Fear of neutral objects could be acquired through learning

Answer 7

Fruitful Statements

Question 8

 Process of reasoning from specific cases to more general principles
 Athletes cut to the front of the food line.
 No one seems to challenge their behavior

Answer 8

Inductive Model

Question 9

 Process of reasoning from general principles to make predictions about specific instances
 Stemmed from predictions by equity theory
 Equity is an important determinant of behavior in human relationships

Answer 9

Deductive Model

Question 10

 Working from research that has been done.
 Nonexperimental studies can suggest cause and effect explanations
 Cigarette smoking and cancer

Answer 10

Building on Prior Research

Question 11

 “The three Princes of Serendip”
 Adventures of three princes who found many valuable things they were not seeking
 Knack of finding things that are not being sought.

Answer 11

Serendipity

Question 12

 Knowing without reasoning
 Most accurate when it comes from experts
 Good hunches are really an unconscious result of our own expertise

Answer 12

Intuition

Question 13

• narrow the number of possible topics

Answer 13

Reread

Question 14

• observe people until a testable hypothesis was found

Answer 14

Observations

Question 15

can be tested in the time frame you have

Answer 15

Set realistic goals for yourself