What is observational science? (1.1) Flashcards
What is science?
Systematic, empirical way to understand the world.
Uses experimental and observational methods.
Goals: describe, predict, and control phenomena.
What is Replicability
Fundamental principle
Methods: clearly documented, affords replication
- direct replications -> rare
Why are direct replications rare?
- Not incentivized
- Replications crisis
What is peer Review
Research reviewed by experts in the research topic
- often blindly
- theoretical arguments
- validity of methods
- analysis of data
What are challenges in being objective?
- Humans have povs
- Research has pov
- POV’s carry assumptions
What are the steps scientific method?
1) Observation
2) Question
3) Hypothesis
4) Experiment
5) Analysis
6) Conclusion
What kind of process is the scientific method?
- Iterative (repetitive) process
- Builds on prior knowledge
What is Observational Science?
-Descriptive
- Naturalistic & participant observation
- Qualitative: provide accurate description of event in natural setting
- Quantitative: study specific behaviors or phenomena of
interest
What are the Advantages of Observational Research?
Advantages:
- Occurs in natural setting, allows studying events that can’t be studied in the lab.
- Description helps us recognize pattern and discover relevant variables
What are the Disadvantages of Observational Research?
-Lack of control
What is experimental research?
- Do changes in X cause change in Y?
- Controlled situations
What are the Advantages of Experimental research?
- Stronger evidence of causal relationships
What are the Disadvantages of Experimental research?
- Often lack ecological validity
- Need to have a priori hypotheses.
What are Quasi experiments?
- Uncontrolled “experiments”: there is a variable X compared to Y but other variables are not controlled.
Example to observational research:
Jane Goodall observing the social behavior of chimpanzees in Gombe
Example to experimental research:
Facebook testing whether emotional contagion spreads online
Example to quasi-experiments:
Look at the effect of mask wearing policies on COVID 19
deaths or outbreaks
Summary of 1.1
•Science is a framework for systematically and empirically
investigating natural phenomenon
- Replication and peer review facilitate confidence in its validity
- Scientific research is conducted from a point of view
•The scientific method is iterative and includes inductive observation
and deductive experimentation
•Studying cognition in the wild is best suited to observational and
quasi experimental methods
•Different research paradigms have different advantages and
disadvantages
