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