Week 1 introduction Flashcards
What is the purpose of scientific method
aims to protect us from biases, limitations and interest
4 challenges in psychological research
- Unobservable “object of investigation”
- Subjectivity of “‘object of investigation”
- Social construction
- Ethics
What does unobservable “object of investigation” refer to
psychological experiences cannot be directly observed from outside for example In clinical psychology pain and suffering cannot be observed from the outside
What is the consequence of unobservable object of investigation
Psychological phenomena must be inferred by interpreting indirect measures or behaviour or reports leading to uncertainty of what does measures mean
What does subjectivity of object of investigation refer to
Psychological insights are based on responses are reports of a person who subjectively interpret their environment for example in clinical psychology these are descriptions of conflict or suffering
What is a consequence of subjectivity of object of investigation
difficult to understand what cause behaviour or experience
What does social construction refer to
not physically given by the environment but exist because people agree on them and behave accordingly for example money
What is the consequence of social construction
difficult to understand cause and effect
What does the challenge of ethics refers to
negative consequences of scientific interventions for example experiments for human and other living things raise ethical concerns
What is a consequence of ethics
we cannot freely manipulate our objective investigation because we deal with human beings and manipulations cause great harm
Subjective
Depends on the person having that belief
Objective
independent of the person having that belief
Hypothesis
Unproven, provisional statement or proposition
Conclusion
proven proposition
3 types of causal influence
- Necessary cause
- Sufficient cause
- Contributory cause
necessary cause
The cause is necessary to produce the effect but it might not be sufficient
Example of necessary cause
Bananas must be ripe to taste good(but not all ripe bananas taste good).
Sufficient cause
The cause alone produces the effects but it might not be necessary
Give an example if sufficient cause
Bananas from Kenya always taste good- but there are other good bananas
Contributory cause
The cause alone contributes to the effect by increasing its likelihood it strength
Example of contributory cause
Chocolate sauce increases the flavor in bananas, but if they are not ripe they are still not good, and their are ripe bananas that taste good even without chocolate
What happens if you remove a necessary cause
The effect disappears, but it might still need other causes to produce the effect
What happens if you add a sufficient cause
The effect occurs, but the effect may also occur in the absence of this cause
What happens if you add or remove a contributory cause
The effect varies
7 Factors of criteria of scientific propositions
- logical consistency
- Testability
- Scope
- Fruitfulness
- Novelty
- Simplicity
- Conservatism
Three types of logical inference
Deduction, induction and abduction
Deduction
Infer a proposition about single cases from a general statement
Give an example of deduction
All bananas are yellow, this fruit is a banana, hence it must be yellow
Induction
Infer a general statement from statements about single cases
Give an example of induction
These bananas are yellow so all bananas are yellow
Abduction
Infer from cases to the most likely, best explanation ~ plausible
Give an example of abduction
This fruit is yellow, all bananas are yellow, this is probably a banana
What is the conclusion of deduction
Conclusion is necessarily true
What is a conclusion of induction
Conclusion may be true
What is conclusion of abduction
Conclusion may be true
When is the scientific proposition fruitful
If it goes beyond the research question answers and inspires new research questions or new answers
When is a proposition novel
If it’s surprising and informative or ground breaking
Conservatism
Minimize new assumptions that contradict existing knowledge. Propositions that integrate with existing knowledge are more likely because it is unlikely that existing knowledge is wrong
There is a fundamental tension between…
Conservatism, which is more likely and novelty, which has a higher impact
Theory
A set of related statements that explain a variety of occurrences
How can you evaluate whether the information on a website is scientific
Check if there are scientific references
Why do scientists need to refer to other sources
To justify assumption they take for granted
Why does scientific progress inherently necessarily depends on communication
Because scientific knowledge depends on specialisation
What are stats not capable of
Quantify qualitative data
