Fall Flashcards
Empirical Methods
Approaches to inquiry that are tied to actual measurement and observation
Ethics
Professional guidelines that offer researchers a temple for making decisions that protect participants from harm
Help steer scientists away from conflicts of interest or other situations that might compromise the integrity of their research
Hypotheses
A logical idea that can be tested
Systematic observation
A careful observation of the natural world with the aim of better understanding it,
observations provide the basic data that allow scientists to track, tally or otherwise organization about the natural world
Theories
groups of closely related phenomena or observations
Causality
The determination that one variable causes - is responsible for an effect
Anecdotal evidence
a piece of biased evidence, usually drawn from personal experience, used to support a conclusion that may or may not be correct
Correlation
The measure of relatedness of two or more variables
Data
information systematically collected for analysis and interpretation
Deductive reasoning
A form of reasoning in which a premise determines the interpretation of specific observations
Distribution
The relative frequency that a particular value occurs for each possible value of a given variable
Empirical
concerned with observation and/or the ability to verify a claim
Falsify
the ability of a claim to be tested and possibly refuted
Generalize
the degree to which one can extend conclusions drawn from the findings of a study to other groups or situations not included in the study
Induction
to draw conclusions from specific observations
Null hypothesis significance testing
a test created to determine the chances that an alternative hypothesis would produce a result as extreme as the one observed if the null hypothesis were actually true
Objective
being free of personal bias
Representative
the degree to which. sample is a typical example of the population from which it is drawn
Sample
a number of people selected from the population to serve as an example of that population
Scientific theory
an explanation for observed phenomena that is empirically well supported, consistent and predictive
Type I error
the error of rejecting the null hypothesis when it is true
type II error
the error of failing to reject the null hypothesis when it is false
Behaviorism
the study of behavior
Cognitive psychology
the study of mental processes
Consciousness
awareness of ourselves and our environment