Labratory 1: Levels of Science Flashcards
What is level 1 of science and what does it involve?
Level 1 of science is observation & facts. This involves collecting data by measurement, and using a standardised procedure, allowing measurement to be reliable and replicable
What are facts?
Facts are related to observation; they are statements about results
Define the two main category of variables
Continuous variables: Variables with real number value
Discrete: Discrete values, e.g., yes or no
Name at least three problems in experiments, define each one.
Hawthorne effect: behaviour differ because participants know what’s expected of them
Rosenthal effect: bias due to experimenter expectation
Intra-individual variability: subject variation in behaviour over experiment
Individual differences - difference between samples
Technical error
Measurement disrupts behaviour
Define the second level of science
Laws are general statements that describe or summarise findings in terms that are more general than original findings - a stable dependency between an IV and a DV.
E.g., Boyle’s law: This law describes the relationship between the pressure and volume of a gas. It states that at a constant temperature, the pressure and volume of a gas are inversely proportional to each other. AND: The Yerkes-Dodson law: This law describes the relationship between arousal and performance. It states that performance on a task improves with increasing arousal up to a point, after which further increases in arousal impair performance.
What is the difference between induction and deduction?
Induction is the process of deriving general principles from specific facts. Deduction is the reverse; observing prediction (or hypotheses) and whether the expected observation occurs or not.
E.g., Deduction is _ + _ = 2, we can infer 1 + 1 or Premise 1: All birds have feathers, Premise 2: Penguins are birds., Conclusion: Therefore, penguins have feathers.
Induction is 1 + 1 = _, we can infer 2 OR Example 2:
Observation 1: Every time you eat peanuts, your throat swells up. Observation 2: Therefore, you are allergic to peanuts.
How does a law earn its right to be called a law?
A law must be able to efficiently encapsulate in a singlate statement a wide range of separate facts & be able to predict new facts
What are three elements of the “better law”
- Consistent with all known facts, 2. Most parasimonious, 3. Most general in application
Define the third level of science
Theory seek to explain/understand reasons behind facts or laws. It aims to relate a group of laws together by providing a set of processes/mechanisms that seem to accoutn for relations among IV and DV
Explain the process of theory building
- Begins with accepted laws and paradigms of the given field
- Proposes the underlying hypothetical relationships within laws and paradigms, containing hypothetical constructs, postulates, and operational defintion (deduced from laws)
- Good theories predict all known laws
What are three essential elements of a theory? Define them
Hypothetical construct: serves as building block of theory & represents imagined elements/concepts
Postulates: Statements that relate hypothetical constructs together and thereby provide a definition for them
Co-ordinating definitions (operational definitions): provides a way for the constructs to be defined in terms of an actual measurement technique
What are hypotheses?
Hypotheses are predictions which is way to test theories. If confirmed, results support theory
What are models?
Models are analogies to theories. They enable theories to be visualised more clearly
What are some functions of models?
- Enable new predictions to be observed
- Good teaching devices
How does science self correct?
Systematically eliminates incorrect explanations
