Week 1

Question 1

What are the four main methods of acquiring knowledge?

Answer 1

Intuition, Authority, Rationalism and Empiricism.

Question 2

What is intuition?

Answer 2

The acquisition of knowledge in the absence of reason.

Question 3

What is the acquisition of knowledge through authority?

Answer 3

The acquisition of knowledge through trusted or respected sources.

Question 4

What is rationalism?

Answer 4

The acquisition of knowledge through reason and logic alone.

Question 5

What is empiricism?

Answer 5

The acquisition of knowledge through experience.

Question 6

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Answer 6

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Question 7

What is science?

Answer 7

A method of building and organising knowledge in a way that is testable and predictive.

Question 8

What is inductive reasoning?

Answer 8

Using to specific observations to form a general explanation and prediction.

Question 9

What is deductive reasoning?

Answer 9

Using general observations to form specific explanations and predictions.

Question 10

Define “Hypothesis”

Answer 10

A proposed explanation of a phenomenon based of limited evidence.

Question 11

What is hypothesis testing?

Answer 11

The process of testing a hypothesis by making systematic observations regarding the hypothesis and then comparing the observed data with the hypothesis.

Question 12

What is logical positivism?

Answer 12

A scientific methodology originating in Vienna that focuses on verifying a hypothesis.

Question 13

What is Falsification?

Answer 13

A scientific methodology introduced by Karl Popper that focuses on falsifying a hypothesis.

Question 14

What is the Duhem-Quine principle?

Answer 14

A philosophical idea which suggests that testing a hypothesis cannot be done in isolation from other assumptions and those assumptions are possibly false.

Question 15

What is naturalism?

Answer 15

The philosophical idea that only natural laws operate in the universe and that science should be able to justify it’s practices and methods according to what works rather than philosophical arguments.

Question 16

What is empirical adequacy?

Answer 16

How well empirical evidence aligns with a theory.

1. Does the evidence support the theory?
2. Does the theory make accurate and consistent predictions?
3. Does the theory offer a strong causal description or explanation for the phenomenon?

Question 17

Define “Paradigm”

Answer 17

A framework of thought or beliefs in which reality is interpreted.

Question 18

Define “Normal science” according in Thomas Kuhn.

Answer 18

A period in which science is governed or directed by a single paradigm.

Question 19

Define “Revolutionary science” according to Thomas Kuhn.

Answer 19

A period in which science transitions into another paradigm.

Question 20

What are the basic assumptions underlying scientific research?

Answer 20

Regularity, determinism, probabilistic causes, reality in nature, and discoverability.

Question 21

What is the assumption of regularity?

Answer 21

Science assumes that nature has uniformity, regularity and lawful relationships.

Question 22

What is the assumption of determinism?

Answer 22

Science assumes that everything the natural is governed by cause and effect, this deterministic idea carries over into behavioural and cognitive processes.

Question 23

What is the assumption of probabilistic cause?

Answer 23

When determinism is hard to identify, science makes the assumption that there are regularities that occur usually but not always, in other words, there is a probability that they will occur.

Question 24

What is the assumption of reality of nature?

Answer 24

Science makes the assumption that the things we interact with are real.

Question 25

What is the assumption of discoverability?

Answer 25

Science makes the assumption that if the world around us that we interact with is real, then it has to be discoverable.

Question 26

What is operationalism?

Answer 26

Representing constructs or variables by the operations in which they can be measured.

Question 27

What is multiple operationalism?

Answer 27

Using multiple operational definitions to represent a construct or variable.

Question 28

What are operational definitions sometimes called?

Answer 28

Operationalisation (of a variable or construct).

Question 29

What is replication?

Answer 29

Replication is the reproduction of experiments that have been conducted in the past in order to determine the reliability of the evidence.

Question 30

What is meta-analysis?

Answer 30

A method used to integrate and explain the relationship between variables across multiple studies.

Question 31

What is a theory?

Answer 31

A theory is an explanation of how and why something happens.

Question 32

What is the logic of discovery?

Answer 32

The inductive portion of scientific research.

Question 33

What is the logic of justification?

Answer 33

The deductive portion of scientific research that is used to test the inductive portion (logic of discovery).

Question 34

What are some of the characteristics that are important for scientists to have?

Answer 34

Curiosity, patience, objectivity and willingness to change.

Question 35

What are the objectives of scientific research?

Answer 35

To describe, explain, predict, control and influence the phenomenon that is being researched.

Question 36

What is pseudoscience?

Answer 36

Beliefs and practices that claim to be scientific but are not scientific.