Slides Week 1

Question 1

Tenacity

Answer 1

• Acquiring Knowledge through superstition or habit

* * Non Scientific

Question 2

Intuition

Answer 2

• Acquisition of knowledge not based on reasoning or inference.
• • Non Scientific

Question 3

Authority

Answer 3

• Acceptance of information from highly respected sources

* * Non Scientific

Question 4

Rationalism

Answer 4

• Acquisition of knowledge via reasoning

* * Non Scientific

Question 5

Empiricism

Answer 5

• Acquisition of knowledge through experience

* * Non Scientific

Question 6

Why do we need the scientific method?

Answer 6

Human judgement is not trustworthy or reliable
• Reliance on intuition (e.g., Asch studies )
• Heuristics/biases
• Perception vs. reality
• Human observation
• Reliance on authority

Question 7

Evidence must be reproducable

Answer 7

• other people need to be able to be reproduced and verified by others.
• Objective evidence requires an objective process

Question 8

Goals of science:

Answer 8

• Describe
• Predict
• Determine Cause
• Explain

Question 9

Good Scientifice Research is . . .

Answer 9

• Based on work of others
• can be replicated
• generalisable to other settings
• based on logical rationale
• tied to theory
• is doable
• generates new questions
• is incremental
• is apolitical actiity

Question 10

Hypothetico-Deductive Model of Scientific Research

Answer 10

• Karl Popper: The Logic of Scientific Discovery (1959)
  “There can be no statements in science which cannot be tested, and therefore none which cannot in principle be refuted, by falsifying some of the conclusions which can be deduced from them.”
  Can we ever know the absolute truth?

Question 11

Describe the Scientific Method

Answer 11

• a way of observing, thinking about problems
• solving problems objectively and systematically
• a process for answering questions

Question 12

Scientific Method - The Process

Answer 12

1. Asking a question
2. Identify important answers
3. Formulate a hypothesis
4. Collect relevant information
5. Test they hypothesis
6. Work with the hypothesis
7. Reconsider the theory
8. Ask new questions

Question 13

Scientific Method - Asking a Question

Answer 13

• questions come as a result of curiosity
• finding an answer becomes necessary
• Questions guide the direction research takes

Question 14

Scientific Method - Identify Important Factors

Answer 14

• Some factor could be age, gender, experience, motivations, campaign valence
  Factors should:
• not previously investigated
• contribute to understanding
• available to investigate
• personally and/or professionally interesting
• Lead to other questions

Question 15

Scientific Method - Formulating a Hypothesis

Answer 15

• A Hypothesis is an educated guess “if . . . then”
• A good hypotheses are declarative
• posit an expected relationship
• reflect the theory and literature
• are brief and to the point
• are testable

Question 16

Scientific Method - Collecting Relevant Information

Answer 16

• We set out to test the hypothesis not to prove them.
• Try to reveal the truth as much as possible whether we like it or not
• Being wrong isn’t bad, it creates more questions
• always another question to ask

Question 17

Scientific Method - Test the hypothesis

Answer 17

• how do you know if you have a difference or not
• How do we know it is not just a random differences
• Inferential statistics allow us to assign probability levels to findings
• Is the difference real or due to chance or something else

Question 18

Scientific Method - Working with the hypothesis

Answer 18

• Does the data support your hypothesis
• Results provide a valuable outcome either way?
• Will the scientific community value ‘null’ results?

Question 19

Scientific Method - Reconsider the theory

Answer 19

• All theories are tentative - they evolve over time
• Observations in science must be replicable
• Science acknowledges it is fallible
• Nothing is ever proved absolutely
• Scientists remain sceptical and alert to alternative explanations
• Science and research are essentially a matter of attitude - a genuine desire to understand the way things are

Question 20

Basic Research

Answer 20

• Tries to answer FUNDAMENTAL questions about the nature of behaviour
• Often designed to address theories about cognition, emotion, motivation, neuropsychology
• Doesn’t seek to solve problems
• arises our of curiosity and Theory; no specific applications in mind
• High degrees of control
• emphasis on refutin or supporting theories
• explain how the world works

Question 21

Applied Research

Answer 21

• Conducted to address practical problems and potential solutions
• Takes place in the ‘real world’
• strict research protocols may need to be relaxed

Question 22

Basic vs Applied Research

Answer 22

• Both are important and neither can be considered superior to the other
• Progress in science is dependent on synergy between basic and applied research
• Applied research is guided by basic research investigations

Question 23

Inferential Statistics

Answer 23

Using random samples of data to about a population to describe that population