PSYC 1000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Research, Statistical Significance, Falsifiability

• School: Memorial University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 1000
• Professor: Mark Hebert

Document Summary

There are natural laws the govern the universe. Inductive reasoning involves making generalizations from specific observations. A combination of inductive and deductive reasoning called the hypothetico-deductive model. Deductive reasoning applies general principles to specific cases. Model allows researchers to create and test theories of behaviour. Inductive reasoning (example): if all the tulips in a field look red, then that must mean that all tulips are red (this is a generalization) Deductive reasoning: from general to specific (example): all tulips are red, here"s a tulip so it must be red. But if the general rule (premise) is wrong, then the conclusion is wrong (not all tulips are red!) Theories (laws) are broad generalizations based on (many) specific observations through inductive reasoning. Hypotheses are then derived from theories using deductive reasoning. Hypothesis is a tentative specific statement often about two variables which may or may not be true. Studies are designed to test the hypothesis.