section 1 Flashcards
what is peer review?
involves scientists peers, who have expertise in the field, evaluating the methods and conclusions of the research
what is pseudoscience?
a set of ideas driven by ideological, cultural, or commercial goals, presented as scientific, although they are not.
what is a scientific law?
it describes something that happens without exception and has been established by repeated testing. often describes mathematical relationship between 2 or more measured variables
what is a theory?
it explaiins existing observations and predict new ones
what is a scientific theory?
its a theory supported by evidence, and has been proven beyond reasonable doubt by repeated testing of hypothesis.
what does parismony
preference for the least complicated explaination for an observation (simplest)
what is falsifiability
the posibility to make an observation that would show that the theory is wrong
what is a hypothesis
working assumption
what is a null hypothesis
no relationship between 2 variables
one tailed hypothesis
a directional prediction, which specifys the nature of the relationship between the variables. a directional hypothesis should only be made if it is based on a well researched theory, or it is based on previous research showing consistent trends. if in doubt made the hypothesis 2 tailed. one tailed hypothesis specify the direction of direction. ie. mean of A> mean of B. or a positive relationship etc.
two tailed hypothesis
non-directional prediction, which only states that a relationship between 2 varibes exists. this doesn’t show the direction but a difference. eg. there is a relationship between between testosterone levels and aggression.
alternative hypothesis
states that a relationship between 2 variables exists
what is a variable
anything that varies that can be measured
I.D.
experimental change
D.V
measured change
what is coundfounding variables
one or more variables which arent under experimental control.
what is a counterbalance
gets rid of counfounding variables
what are quasi-experiments
they are characterised by their use of pre-existing groups of participants which have not been manipulated by the experimenter
4 types of quasi-experiments
observational studies, interviews and questionnairs, case studies, correlation studies
what is an observational study?
researchers observe the experimental units in their natural setting and simply record the variables of interest. examples are bullying in the plsyground
what are advantages with observational studies
natural setting, overcome ethical issues with manipulting participants into groups
disadvantages of obserbational studie
relys on researchers interpretation of behaviour, researchers can influence behaviour, researchers can lack control over the situation, no casual conclusions can be drawn
advantages with interviews and questionaiirs
large data quick, studies opionions which arnt easily observed
disavantgeos of questionairs and interviews
unrep sample, no casual conclusions, interviewer bias
what is a case study
indebth analysis of an individual, group or an event.
advantages of case studies
difficult to replicate, no casu con cab be drawn
what is a correlation study
measures the association between naturally occuring events or variables
what 3 components make up a correlation study
- measure one variable (X), 2. measure a second variable (Y), 3. use statistics to determine if X and Y are related.
advantages of correlation study
made predictions, ethically sound, identify real world relationships
disadvanages of correlation studies
how generalisable are the results? correlation not causation
what is a population
complete set of individuals with some common characteristsics
what is a sample
small number of the population
types of sampling techniques
random and opportunity
