Introduction Flashcards
6 sources of belief
- tradition
- intuition
- authority
- reasoning
- rational thought
- observation
tradition
it is true because it has always been true
intuition
it is true because I feel it is true
authority
it is true because an expert said it was true
reasoning
I believe it is true because it is logically derived
rational thought
thinking with reasoning, not sufficient without observation
observation
I believe it is true because I experienced it (not sufficient)
Scientific method
theory
hypothesis
research
observation
science
acquiring knowledge through interaction, observation, and logic
why do we ask research questions?
- to satisfy curiosity
- to demonstrate a new technique
- to evaluate a theory
- to study a behavioral phenomenon
hasty generalization
a conclusion made of insufficient and or biased evidence
genetic fallacy
conclusion based on an argument that the origins of a person, idea, institute or theory determine character, nature or worth
critical thinking skills
- ask questions
- define the problem
- examine all evidence
- asses the assumption
- separate facts from opinions
- don’t oversimplify
- tolerate uncertainty
- open-mindedness
tenents of science (5)
- determinism
- empiricism
- replicability
- falsifiablity
- parsimony
determinism
human behavior can be understood in terms of natural laws of the universe
empiricism
observed data is key to confirming or refuting claims
replicability
a single finding is not enough
falsifiability
hypotheses have to be generated in a way that they are testable and falsifiable
parsimony
a theory that makes fewer assumptions about the data set is preferred
objectives of science
- to describe
- to explain
- to predict
- to control
to describe
give a detailed account for natural phenomenon
to explain
once we observe and describe regularities we attempt to explain them
to predict
if the explanation is correct it has to account for new data not only describe the observed data
to control
we can use predictions to control phenomenon
quantitative research
measure differences in the amount of behavior
qualitative research
describe differences in kind or quality of behavior
basic research
main motivation is to understand the workings of nature/individual/society
applied research
main motivation is to apply knowledge for the immediate benefit of the society
cross-sectional research
- many ages at one point in time
- cohort effect
- less time consuming
longitudinal research
- the same group over long oeriod of time
- high drop out rate
- expensive
field study
more naturalistic
little control
laboratory study
higher control
may not be generalizable
empirical
based on observation or experience
empirical sources
- observation
- experimentation (controlled)
- experiments in nature
cloze test
a test in which one is asked to supply words that have been removed from a passage in order to measure one’s ability to comprehend text.
