Week 1 Flashcards
What is intuition as a way of knowing?
‘knowledge’ is gained without intellectual effort or sensory processing (instinct and emotion). .
What is authority as a way of knowing?
Knowledge acquired though acceptance of ideas from respected figures.
Give some examples of authority in relation to ways of knowing:
Parents, media and politicians.
What is a negative with using authority as a way of knowing?
Authorities may rely on intuition, be motivated to mislead, and might be wrong.
What is a negative of using intuition as a way of knowing?
It is dependent on cognitive and emotional biases
How is rationalism/logic used as a way of knowing?
Knowledge is through application of logical rules.
e.g., Premise stated, rules applied, conclusion reached
What is a negative of using rationalism/logic as a way of knowing?
If a premise or application of rules is wrong, conclusion will be invalid.
What is empiricism as a way of knowing?
Knowledge is acquired through observation and experience.
What is a negative of using empiricism as a way of knowing?
Senses limit what we can experience, and are open to deception and illusions.
What is the scientific method as a way of knowing?
Knowledge is developed through systematic empiricism. Data is systematically collected and evaluated.
Define science (noun)
a branch of knowledge or study dealing with a body of facts or truths systematically arranged and showing the operation of general laws: the mathematical sciences.
How is systematic knowledge gained in science?
Through observation and experimentation of the physical or material world.
What are the three features of science?
Systematic empiricism, empirical questions and public knowledge.
What are the three goals of science?
To describe, predict and explain.
Describe basic research
Fundamental or pure research. The aim is to increase understanding of phenomena.
What is the aim of applied research?
To find solutions to practical problems.
What are the five steps in the scientific process?
- Generate a question
- develop procedures
- make empirical observations
- rationally interpret the observations (inference -deriving conclusions from observed facts or other ideas)
- use interpretations to predict other events
Which order do we do deductive reasoning?
From general to specific.
Give and example of deductive reasoning
Going from a theory to a prediction. The prediction predicts data. If the premises are true (valid), then the conclusion is valid. eg. all humans are mortal, Erica is a human, therefore Erica is mortal.
Which order do we do inductive reasoning?
From specific to general.
What is an example of inductive reasoning?
Observation (data) to theory. Something is true in a specific case, therefore it is assumed to apply to more general cases as well. eg, “the crows in THAT flock are all black, therefore all crows are black”
Are theories mere guesses?
No.
Which type of reasoning do theories allow?
Deductive reasoning (to gather a hypothesis)
Define theory
A coherent explanation or interpretation of one or more phenomena.
Theories go beyond the phenomena they explain by including what?
Variables, structures, processes, functions, or organising principles that have not been observed directly.
Basic research is to applied research as
theoretical is to applied research.
Are constructs always directly observable?
No. Some might not literally exist.
What are the four things that make a good theory?
Parsimony, Testability, Functional and Valid.
What does parsimony mean?
A good theory is no more complex than it needs to be to explain behaviour.
What does testability mean?
A good theory must be able to make predictions that are open to empirical refutation. ‘Anything is possible’ is scientifically useless.
What does functional mean in relation to making a good theory?
A good theory explains how variables relate to one another.
What does valid mean in terms of what makes a good theory?
Must be specific, testable perditions that are confirmed by observation.
What are the 5 phases of research?
Research literature, research questions (practical problems), empirical study, data analysis and conclusions.
What are some examples of what happens in the idea generating phase?
Read literature in an area of interest, deduce hypothesis from existing theory, break process into subcomponents, think about what variables that mediate known cause-effect relationship.
What are some aspects of the problem-definition phase?
How have others conceptualised, measured and tested related ideas? Develop testable hypothesis from
-previous research
-own ideas and speculations
hypothesis must be specific
What is involved in the procedures-design phase?
What are the variables, what will be measured, what will be manipulated, who will be tested (ethics), how will data be recorded, how will data be analysed?
What is involved in the observation phase?
‘doing research’, might begin with a pilot study. Results might lead to re-conceptualisation of hypothesis. Could results in changed to procedures.
What is involved in the data-analysis phase?
What is typically regarded as ‘statistics’. Apply statistical methods that were identified in design phase.
What is the interpretation phase?
inductive process, data inform the following
- what answer is provided in relation to the hypothesis
- how do the data contribute to existing knowledge?
What is the communication phase?
public, presentation at meetings, publication in journals. Must be detailed, but clear and concise to enable replication.
What are the 5 types of research design?
Naturalistic observation, case study, (Cor)relational research, differential research, experimental research.
What is naturalistic observation?
In-depth observation of phenomenon in its natural setting.
An example of naturalistic observation?
Jane Goodall studying chimpanzees. Jean Piaget also made extensive use of it to study children development.
What is a major benefit in using naturalistic research?
Findings have clear application outside laboratory, since observations are made in the ‘real world’.
What research has the lowest constraint?
Naturalistic because you’re observing in their natural environment.
What are three limitations of naturalistic observation?
Awareness of being observed may affect behaviour, can one group be generalised to unobserved groups (external validity) and bias from researcher.
What is a case study?
An in-depth observation of one person or small group.
When are case studies useful?
When the phenomenon of interest is not well understood, or difficult to produce experimentally.
When a phenomenon is rare (e.h H.Mm split brain)
What type of study does qualitative research often rely on?
Case studies.
Are case studies useful in early development of theories?
Yes, which then can be tested.
What are the two main limitations of case study?
Subject to research bias, and may not be representative of larger population (conclusions will lack external validity).
What is relational research?
Attempts to determine the degree to which two or more variables are related.
What is relational research sometimes referred to in medical science?
Epidemiological studies.
What is an example of relational research?
Early studies that established links between early life experiences, SES, parental background and occupations with children’s later intelligence and success in school.
What are some limitations of relational research?
Cannot be used to measure cause and effect because lack of control means direction of causation is ambiguous (or causation might be caused to an unknown variable). Issues with relational design and how data is collected.
What is differential research?
Compares two or more groups of participants on some variable.
What is a characteristic of differential research in relation to groups?
Groups are pre-existing and not under the researchers control.
Which type of research has high constraint?
Differential research.
What are the two limitations of differential research?
Misses component in quasi-experimental research is the random assignment of participants to the treatment conditions. Therefore, we can never rule out alternative explanations for the measured effect.
What is experimental research?
Participants randomly assigned to groups/conditions. Researchers able to have strict control over all aspects of study.
Which study design has the highest level of constraint?
Experimental research.
What are the limitations of experimental research?
High constraint means little flexibility.
Experimental conditions may not translate to real-world settings.
One limitation of experimental research is that the research conditions don’t always apply to real world settings. When is this not a concern?
If the aim of study is not to generalise, but to test predictions of a theory and whether they stand up even under controlled conditions.
