Midterm 1 Flashcards
Research evidence makes conclusions _____________
More or less likely, not guaranteed.
Formulated explanations as to how things work
Theories
Testable/falsifiable prediction
Hypothesis
2 characteristics of a good theory
- Falsifiable
- Parsimonious
When something is able to be proven wrong
Falsifiable
When something says a lot with few words
Parsimonious
Difference between research question and hypothesis
research question = question your study will answer
hypothesis = what you expect to find
Method or procedure since 17th century, characterized by systematic observation, measurement, experiment, and formulation, testing, modification of hypotheses
The Scientific Method (or Galilean Method)
2 main objectives of scientific research
- Theory building (induction)
- Theory testing (deduction)
Suggesting an explanation for the way people behave
Induction
Collecting evidence to show whether a theory is a good or bad explanation for the way people behave
Deduction
Theories > hypthesis > Research
Deductive reasoning
Research (observation) > hypothesis > theories
Inductive reasoning
Deductive reasoning is ____ driven
theory driven
Inductive reasoning is ____ driven
Data driven
Something that varies
Variable
Measures within a given variable are _____
Mutually exclusive
4 levels of measurement
- Nominal
- Ordinal
- Interval
- Ratio
Variables where data is only classified
Nominal variable
Categorical variables
Nominal and ordinal
Continuous variables
Interval and ratio
Variable data is ranked
Ordinal
Variables with meaningful difference between values, can contain negative, arbitrary 0
Interval variable
Variables with meaningful 0 point, no negative numbers
Ratio variable