1: Psychology and Scientific Method

science

method of making sense of the world around us

• means of/approach to acquiring knowledge

other knowledge acquisition methods

• intuition

• authority

• rationalism

• empiricism

• common sense

• tenacity

• mysticism

science is emperical

knowledge based on experience/observation/quantitative data

• data used to develop, support, challenge theories

• support for an idea/proposition is empirically determined

• theories: explanations of observed phenomenon (why and how); permits predictions

scienve is objective

a means of approximating/discovering truth

• knowledge free from bias, opinion, preferences, values

• truth vs. Truth

science is theory-driven

based on general principles/set of principles

science is tenative

no “jumping to conclusions”; knowledge is subject to revision

science is progressive/incremental

build on body of knowledge; no single study has the final say on a matter

• science is self-correcting and replicable

science is parsimonious

often the simplest explanation is the best explanation

• Ocaam’s razor

science is public

produces public knowledge

• science is a social process/communal endeavor

• science is a progressive/self-correcting/replicable

science is systematic

carefully planned procedures for collection and analysis of observations

philosophical assumptions of science

• realism

• rationalism

• regularity

• determinism/causality

• discoverability

• quantifiability/testability

• falsifiability/refutability

realism

perceptions exist outside the mind

rationalism

reasoning and logic is superior to authority, intuition, and faith

regularity

recurring patterns in phenomena of interest; non-randomness of behavior

determinism/causality

phenomena are the result of some cause which precedes it

discoverability

solutions/explanations exist for posed queries

quantifiability/testability

phenomena of interest can be operationalized and observed

falsifiability/refutability

claims/hypotheses can be wrong/refuted

scientific method

systematic collection and analysis and rational interpretation of empirical data to test hypothesis

deductive

• theory to data (observations)

• general to specific

inductive

• data (observations) to theory

• specific to general

scientific method steps

1. observation (empiricism)

   1. descriptive questions: describing a phenomenon

   2. cause and effect questions: predictions about the observed relationships between two (or more) things/behaviors

2. develop a theory

   1. identify the variables presumed to be associated with your observations

   2. variables, constructs; variables that represent behavior or psychological processes

3. develop a testable, refutable hypothesis

   1. conceptualization vs. operationalization of variables (quantifiability/testability)

   2. hypothesis must be stated in such a way that it can be potentially be wrong/refuted (falsifiability/refutability)

   3. degrees of falsifiability (greater universality = greater falsifiability)

4. systematically collect observations

5. evaluate the evidence

goals of scientific method

1. describe behavior

   1. discover regularities, search for causes of behavioral phenomena

2. explain behavior

   1. develop explanations for behavioral phenomena - causal determinants

3. predict behavior

   1. use supported theory to predict behavior