Module 1: What is Science Flashcards
Bad science examples (4):
- Scientist use make-believe data
- engage I plagiarism
- Honest error (ex: brain image reading errors)
- Dropping participant data that don’t fit their hypotheses
Confirmation Bias
a tendency to process information in ways that support existing belief
Science
A way of knowing through observation and experimentation
Observation is
obtaining first hand information
Experimentation is
Conducting carefully controlled research designed to establish casualty
Using faith means____ however _____
that we believe without proof or evidence, however, without evidence, your views are not truly scientific
Experimental Methods
Research method characterized by a controlled environment in which the effects of manipulating an independent variable on a dependent variable can be observed allowing researchers to make conclusion about causality
Independent variable
The variable manipulated by the experimenter
Dependant variable
The variable that is measured to asses the impact of an independent variable
Non experimental method+ex (4)
Any research method that is not explicitly experimental or designed to establish causality
Ex: a survey, case study or correlational study
What is different with a non experimental method? (2)
- Method is frequently used in natural setting as opposed to the highly controlled settings of most experiments
- Variables being observed are typically not manipulated by the researcher unlike the manipulation of the independent variable in the experiment.
Relationship between non-experimental studies and conclusions:
Researchers obtain very useful information from non-experimental studies but cannot make firm conclusions about causality. For example. if you correlate students caffeine intake with result on memory test, you cannot say for sure that caffeine affects memory.
To make casual conclusions always require
us to run an experiment
Reliability+ex (2)
Refers to the ability to produce stable and consistent results. If you conduct the same experiment over and over again, you should get the same results.
Ex: If you take a reliable personality test twice, you should get the same result
Validity (3)
- The ability of research to produce result that represents the real world
- how well the results among the study participants represent true findings among similar individuals outside the study
- Consist of internal and external
Internal validity + ex (2)
- Ability of a study or measure to do what it is advertised to do
- Ex: If you say you are going to study the affects of caffeine on memory but you measure paying attention, your results don’t have internal validity
External Validity +ex (2)
- Quality of research that generalizes outside the research setting to the real world. AKA The ability for us to apply our results beyond the people participating in our study
- Ex: If the coffee research has external validity the public might benefit from consuming caffeine before trying to memorize
Theories (2)
- Sets of facts and relationships among facts that explain and predict natural phenomena
- They provide models showing how or why something works
Facts vs Theories (2)
facts are….and can…..
theories are…..___…._____…._____
Facts are observed and can be measured
Theories are backed by extensive reports of observation, experimentation and testing
Jonathan Haidt
How you think about moral values can be influenced by your situation
Theory building
The process of constructing, testing and refining the answer to your research
Hypothese
A testable explanation of a natural phenomenom
A good hypothesis leads to
testable predictions
We are NEVER able to
prove that our hypothesis is correct!