Week 1- Principles of Scientific Research Flashcards
Characteristics of Good Scientific Research
1) Objective, valid, reliable
2) Generalized (one set of results can be applied to other situations
3) Bias reducing technique used
4) Results made public
5) Can be replicated
Objective
way of measuring is consistent i.e. always using kg)
Valid
est/instruments must measure what it claims to be measuring i.e. thermometer that says its -30 degrees in the middle of the summer is not valid
Reliable
Consistent results
Generalized
one set of results can be applied to other situations/ individuals
Demand Characteristics
participant thinks they know the intent of the study and answer questions accordingly
Hawthorne Effect
behavioural change as a result of being observed
Single Blind Study
Participants don’t know purpose of experiment
Double blind Study
participants and experimenter doesn’t know purpose of experiment (conducted by assistant)
Peer Review
experts critique papers before they are published in scholarly journals
Anecdotal Evidence
a person’s story/testimony about an object/event that is used as evidence (i.e. guy on tv says he lost 50 pounds after buying workout dvd)
Data Selection Bias
only choosing data that supports your claim (i.e. saying humans don’t cause climate change isn’t real because 24 reports say so, but 1000+ paper say that humans do cause climate change)
Appeal to Authority
believing in an “expert’s” claim when there is no supporting evidence
Appeal to Common Sense
idea seems true, but lacks scientific evidence (i.e earth was thought to the stationary centre of the universe, didn’t seem possible for the earth to be spinning so quickly around the sun
Appeal to Tradition
“we’ve always done things this way”
