The Scientific Method Chapter 1

Descriptive and Experimental

2 types of designs in research

The Scientific Method

A set of assumptions, attitudes and procedures that guide researchers in creating questions to investigate, in generating evidence and drawing conclusions

True

A theory is a tool for explaining behavior and mental processes, not facts. True or false?

Formulate

Step 1 of the Scientific Method

Design the study and collect data

Step 2 of the Scientific Method

Analyze the data and draw conclusions

Step 3 of the Scientific Method

Report the findings

Step 4 of the Scientific method

testimonials rather than scientific evidence

Strategy 1 in pseudoscience

"Sciency" presentation without scientific substance

Strategy 2 in pseudoscience

Combining established scientific knowledge with unfounded claims

Strategy 3 in pseudoscience

irrefutable or nonfalsifiable claims

Strategy 4 in pseudoscience

Confirmation bias

Strategy 5 in pseudoscience

Shifting the burden of proof

Strategy 6 in pseudoscience

Multiple outs

Strategy 7 in pseudoscience

Variable

a factor that can vary or change

Hypothesis

a statement that describes the relationship between 2 variables

Pseudoscience

a theory, method, or practice that promotes claims in ways that appear to be scientific and plausible even though supporting empirical evidence is lacking or nonexistent

Operational definition

defines the variable in very specific terms as to how its measured, manipulated or changed

Empirical evidence

evidence that is the result of objective observation, measurement, and experimentation

Meta-Analysis

involves pooling the results of several studies into a single analysis

Theory

or model, is a tentative explanation that tries to account for diverse findings on the same topic

Descriptive research

research strategies for observing and describing behavior, including finding factors that associated with a specific phenomena (who, what, where and when?)

Statistically significant

the results are not very likely to have occurred by chance

Confirmation Bias Def.

the tendency to seek out evidence that confirms an existing belief while ignoring evidence that contradicts or undermines the belief

Experimental research

used to show that 1 variable causes change in a second variable