Week 1 Hills P1-13 Flashcards
Characteristics of a constant:
A constant always has the same value (eg, pi, the ratio of a circle to its diameter, etc).
Constants are relatively rare in behavioural sciences, although a variable can be held constant in a research study only by considering one of its values (e.g. Women in the case of gender).
What is a variable?
A variable is any attribute that can vary (e.g. Age, gender, self-esteem, air temp, etc).
Measures of variables are…
The data of quantitative research.
The 3 tenets in the scientific community are:
Theory
Empirical
Data
TED
Theory is a coherent system of…
Theory is a coherent system of logically consistent and interconnected ideas used to condense and organise knowledge.
(Neuman, 2011, p.9)
Empirical - refers to evidence or observations…
Empirical - refers to evidence or observations grounded in human sensory experience: touch, sight, hearing, smell, and taste.
Data - Forms of empirical evidence or information carefully collected according to …..
Data - Forms of empirical evidence or information carefully collected according to the rules or procedures of science.
What are the five ethical considerations Protecting the rights of participants?
I Respect for persons and their autonomy
II Do no harm eg no lengthy or arduous experiments
III Pursuit and promotion of justice
IV Establishment of trust with research participants
V Fostering of fidelity & scientific integrity.
RISK - BENEFIT balance of research must be gauged …. Apply the five principles for ethical guidelines recommended by Sales & Folkman…
What are these 5 Principles?
- Respect & autonomy
- Do no harm
- Pursuit & promotion of justice
- Establishment of trust.
- Fostering of fidelity & scientific integrity.
The scientific approach to research in psychology incorporates 4 steps:
Step 1 Conceptualise the problem
2 Collect the data
3 Draw conclusions & create or apply theory
4 Revise research conclusions & theory.
Research Involves five (5) Norms of the Scientific Community
CHUDOS
Communalism Honesty Universalism Disinterestedness - impartial Organised Skepticism
CHUDOS?
COMMUNALISM: an onus on researchers to publish their work and findings … Standards of undertaking research - not wasting participants’ time.
HONESTY: Cultural norm that should be applied to research.
UNIVERSALISM: Attribution based solely on scientific merit ..following set plans.
DISINTERESTEDNESS: Scientists must be impartial…neutral.
ORGANISED SKEPTICISM: A standard where we want to challenge information from a position of academic inquiry.
Elaborative model of Research Process:
Neuman
Select topic - focus question - design study - collect data - analyse data - interpret data - inform others.
Cyclical in nature…. Theory drives each component.
The research process requires that a PRECISE research question be ascertained ….why?
Ascertain a precise research question and then you can test something in quantitative methods…. A Test that is doable!
Conceptualising the research problem… Involves a process of generating ideas and testing them.
The process
1) idea for research
2) look at the theory underlying the topic… The set of concepts and propositions intended to describe and explain
3) Theories generate the hypotheses
4) quantitative testing of the hypotheses
No 5 :)
Research annoyingly involves a scientific approach…
Both a system for PRODUCING knowledge and the KNOWLEDGE that RESULTS from that system.
This scientific knowledge is organised into theories and grounded in empirical data.
THEORY. DATA. EMPIRICAL ……TED…the three tenets.