final 4: describe and argue for or against validity of 5 of 6 assumptions of science

Question 1

assumptions

Answer 1

1. objectivity
2. separateness
3. reductionism
4. empiricism
5. natural law
6. determinism

Question 2

objectivity

Answer 2

• assumption that you can measure something without subjective error or influence
• double blind and operational definition
• quantitative-measurable

Question 3

separateness

Answer 3

• isolate and experimentally control variables (IV and DV)
• problems: the more control, the less it reflects reality; internal and external validity; makes assumption that there are only a few variables

Question 4

reductionism

Answer 4

• best way to understand things is to break them down

- observer bias

Question 5

empiricism

Answer 5

• to know something we have to observe (measure) it; science is the only thing that we can observe
• how you define it and draw the line

Question 6

natural law

Answer 6

• thinking about the world as a series of links
• order under the chaos of the world
• true, but not all phenomenon are orderly and predictable

Question 7

determinism

Answer 7

• everything is caused by a finite # of causes, if we know the causes, everything else is predictable
• phenomenon that need to be measured in complex, dynamic systems