Research Methods Flashcards
Approaches to inquiry that are tied to actual measurement and observation
Empirical methods
Professional guidelines that offer researchers a template for making decisions that protect research participants from potential harm and steer scientists away from conflicts of interest or other situations that could compromise the integrity of their research
Ethics
A logical idea that can be tested
Hypothesis
Careful observation of the natural world with the aim of better understanding it. Provides basic info allowing us to track, tally or organize info about the natural world
Systematic observation
Groups of closely related phenomena or observations
Theories
A piece of biased evidence usually drawn from personal experience, used to support a conclusion that may or may not be correct
Anecdotal evidence
In research, the determination that one variable causes an effect
Causality
In statistics, the measure of relatedness of two or more variables
Correlation
Information systematically collected for analysis and interpretation
Data (or observations)
Form of reasoning in which given a premise determines the interpretation of specific observations (all birds have feathers, since a duck is a bird, it has feathers)
Deductive reasoning
In statistics, the relative frequency that a particular value occurs for each possible value of a given variable
Distribution
Concerned with observation and/or the ability to verify a claim
Empirical
Objective information about the world
Fact
In science, the ability of a claim to be tested and possibly refuted; a defining feature of science
Falsify
In research, the degree to which one can extend conclusions drawn from findings of a study to other groups or situations not included in the study
Generalize
A tentative explanation that is subject to testing
Hypothesis
To draw general conclusions from specific observations
Induction
Form of reasoning in which a general conclusion is inferred from a set of observations (the driver in that car was texting and he just cut me off. This observation leads to the conclusion that texting while driving is dangerous)
Inductive reasoning
In science, there are complementary understandings and explanations of phenomena
Levels of analysis
In statistics, 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
Null-hypothesis significance testing (nhst)
Being free of personal bias
Objective
Established threshold for determining whether a given value occurs by chance
Probability values
Beliefs or practices that are presented as being scientific or which are mistaken for being so, but are actually not (eg astrology)
Pseudoscience
The degree to which a sample is a typical example of the population from which it is drawn
Representative
A number of people selected from a population to serve as an example of that population
Sample
An explanation for observed phenomena that is empirically well-supported, consistent, and fruitful (predictive)
Scientific theory
The error of rejecting the null-hypothesis when it is true
Type 1 error
The error of failing to reject the null-hypothesis when it is false
Type 2 error
Belief about the way things should be
Value
