PSY 3100 Research M: Ch. 1 Terms

Universialism

the validity of a scientific claim. Status should not matter

Communality

the findings of science belong to everyone; not private property

disinterestedness

scientists should be focused on finding truth, not their own success

organized skepticism

dont take things at face value, verify others’ claims

systematic empiricism

questioning and learning about the world through objective observations, is theory driven

publicly verifiable knowledge

research methods are public and there are no secrets, subject to peer review, and can be replicated by others due to transparency

empirically solvable problems

problems that can be tested and can be falsified

empiricism

the use of systematic observation to test a theory

theory

not a guess or answer; organized set of ideas to help explain phenomena, and look out into the future
set of concepts used to explain a body of data and make predictions

CANNOT BE PROVEN

hypothesis

specific predictions that are derived from theories

testable prediction abot the relationship between one+ predictor variables and an outcome variable derived from a theory

Makes a good theory: falsifiable

makes testable (specific) predictions, can prove wrong

Makes a good theory: explanatory power

provides best explanation of existing data

Makes a good theory: productivity

leads researchers to new findings, predictions what will happen

Makes a good theory: parsimony

simplicity — “fewer working parts” are preferable, less Qs and assumptions to explain

Theory-to-theory cycle

observe behavior then

1. Generate potential explanation (theory)

2. Generate predictions (hypothesis) based on theory

replication

repeating a study, new participants to examine something different

applied research

goal is to solve a specific real-world problem