PSY 102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Dependent And Independent Variables, Research, Malingering
9 Feb 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
What is a science: two core tenets of science, the universe operates according to certain natural laws, such laws are discoverable and testable. How do we avoid biases and heuristics: test specific hypotheses derived from broader theories, theories are never proven, but hypotheses can be confirmed or disconfirmed. Research design matters: helps eliminate biases, we want to avoid subjective impressions at all costs. Two basic types of research methods: experimental, to demonstrate a cause and effect relationships between the variables, descriptive, research method used to observe and describe behaviour, used to determine the existence of a relationship between the variables. The scientific toolbox: experimental designs, naturalistic observation, case study, self report measures and surveys, correlational designs. Scientific theory: an explanation for a large number of findings in the natural world, a testable prediction is called a hypothesis. Example: independent variable: mint gum, dependent variable: test scores, controlled.
