Module 1 Flashcards
(31 cards)
What are empirical methods?
Approaches to inquiry that are tied to actual measurement and observation.
What is ethics in research?
Professional guidelines that offer researchers a template for making decisions that protect research participants from potential harm and that help steer scientists away from conflicts of interest or other situations that might compromise the integrity of their research.
What is a hypothesis?
A logical idea that can be tested.
What is systematic observation?
The 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 organize information about the natural world.
What are theories?
Groups of closely related phenomena or observations.
What is anecdotal evidence?
A piece of biased evidence, usually drawn from personal experience, used to support a conclusion that may or may not be correct.
What is causality?
In research, the determination that one variable causes—is responsible for—an effect.
What is correlation?
In statistics, the measure of relatedness of two or more variables.
What is data in research?
Information systematically collected for analysis and interpretation.
What is deductive reasoning?
A form of reasoning in which a given premise determines the interpretation of specific observations (e.g., All birds have feathers; since a duck is a bird, it has feathers).
What is distribution in statistics?
The relative frequency that a particular value occurs for each possible value of a given variable.
What does empirical mean?
Concerned with observation and/or the ability to verify a claim.
What is a fact?
Objective information about the world.
What does falsify mean in science?
The ability of a claim to be tested and—possibly—refuted; a defining feature of science.
What does generalize mean in research?
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.
What is a hypothesis?
A tentative explanation that is subject to testing.
What is induction?
To draw general conclusions from specific observations.
What is inductive reasoning?
A form of reasoning in which a general conclusion is inferred from a set of observations (e.g., noting that ‘the driver in that car was texting; he just cut me off then ran a red light!’ which leads to the general conclusion that texting while driving is dangerous).
What are levels of analysis in science?
Complementary understandings and explanations of phenomena.
What is null-hypothesis significance testing (NHST)?
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.
What does objective mean?
Being free of personal bias.
What is a population in research?
All the people belonging to a particular group (e.g., the population of left handed people).
What is probability?
A measure of the degree of certainty of the occurrence of an event.
What are probability values?
The established threshold for determining whether a given value occurs by chance.
