PSY 105 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Jane Goodall, American Psychological Association, Operational Definition
Document Summary
There are many challenges to studying humans empirically: Inductive and deductive reasoning: the scientific method uses, deductive reasoning, reasoning proceeding from broad basic principles applied to specific situations applying a general idea/bias to a specific situation. Scientific approach steps(p. 45) : make observations, develop hypothesis, test hypothesis, build a theory. What is pseudoscience: pseudos(cid:272)ie(cid:374)(cid:272)e thi(cid:374)ki(cid:374)g is e(cid:448)er(cid:455)(cid:449)here , claims that seem scientific but they are not supported by evidence. Lacks certain scientific safeguards (ex. lack of self correction) How psychologists conduct research? claim sounds and feels scientific Operational definitions: operationalize= to develop a working definition of a variable that allows you to test it, developing very precise definitions of the variables. Specify what "counts" as an instance of that variable. Descriptive research: measures and observations of "what" people do as opposed to "why" Populations: population = the complete group that the researcher wants to learn something about.
