PSY 105 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Francis Bacon, Karl Popper, Operational Definition
Document Summary
The scientific method uses logical reasoning derived from philosophy: Karl popper stressed that a good theory must be able to be proven false: it must be falsifiable. Step 1: identify questions of interest and review the literature. Step 2: develop a testable hypothesis (must be operationally defined) Step 3: select a research method. choose participants and collect the data (an experiment) Step 4: analyze the data and accept or reject the hypothesis. Step 5: seek scientific review, publish and replicate or edit their findings. An operational definition is how we (the researcher) decide to measure our variables. There are usually many ways to measure a variable (e. g. , sense of humor) When you do research, you have to decide how you are going to measure the variables. Sample a portion of any population that is selected for the study. Random selection randomly choosing a sample from a population. Sampling bias choosing a sample that does not represent your population.
