PSYC1001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Falsifiability, Operational Definition
19 May 2018
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Measurement and constructs
Constructs
• Idea/theory often expressed as a single word, but containing lots of assumptions and
conceptual relationships
• Scientific constructs better approximations of reality, more accurate
Screen clipping taken: 7/06/2017 12:31 PM
2 ways to define a construct
• Conceptual definitions
o Describes construct in terms of what it is/is not and how might relate to existing theories
o Reification
• When a purely analytic or abstract relationship is treated as if a concrete entity,
conceptual errors can have dramatic effects
• Transforming a property into a thing
• e.g. when adjective is treated as a noun
o Falsifiability
• A concept or theory able to be disproven
• Hypothesis can be considered scientific theory only if it can be disproved
o Pragmatic fallacy
• Something is true because it works
• Explanation is entirely valid, because a single treatment associated with it
apparently works
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