psychology as a science Flashcards

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1
Q

what does induction mean?

A
  • where the data comes first and is often from observing behaviour
  • researcher looks for patterns then formulated hypotheses
  • conclusions are made and theories are formed to generalise elsewhere
  • known as a ‘bottom-up’ process
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2
Q

what does deduction mean?

A
  • a ‘top down’ process
  • idea/ theory comes first, hypotheses formed, observations/ experiments gather data, confirmation of the theories
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3
Q

what does objectivity mean?

A
  • sciences should be unbiased and based on facts. personal ideas should not influence results
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4
Q

how does objectivity make research more scientific?

A

based on facts rather than subjective opinions and thoughts

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5
Q

what is replicability?

A

research should have lots of controls, which makes it replicable to see if the same occurs again at a later time and in different contexts

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6
Q

how does replicability make research more scientific?

A

someone else may find similar results that support or don’t support previous findings

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7
Q

what does the study of cause and effect/ manipulation of variables mean?

A

the aim of scientific research should be to manipulate an IV (the cause) to observe its effect on the DV

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8
Q

how does the study of cause and effect make research more scientific

A

manipulating variables allows us to see what effect the change in IV has had on behaviour (the DV)

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9
Q

what is hypothesis testing?

A

research should have precise and operationalised hypotheses which can be tested to support or reject a theory

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10
Q

how does hypothesis testing make research more scientific?

A

hypotheses can be proven wrong (null) so this goes with falsifiability

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11
Q

what does ‘controls and standardisation’ mean

A

research should have controls and keep things the same for each participant (standardisation). allows behaviour to be down to change in IV and nothing else

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12
Q

how does controls and standardisation make research more scientific?

A

increases replicability of research- someone else may find the same if they repeat the research at a different time or in a new context

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13
Q

what does quantitative data mean?

A
  • numerical data makes the research more factual as researcher doesn’t have to use an opinion and be subjective
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14
Q

how does quantitative data make research more scientific?

A
  • makes the results more objective and based on facts
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15
Q

what is falsification?

A

for a theory or research to be considered scientific, hypotheses should be able to be proven wrong. scientific research should not just be someone’s ideas

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16
Q

how does falsifiability make research more scientific?

A

researchers (and even late research which may replicate original research) may find evidence that counteracts previous hypotheses