PSYC 100 Lecture Notes - Naturalistic Observation, Psychological Testing, Hypothesis

• School: Simon Fraser University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 100
• Professor: Jaime Palmer

Document Summary

Problem: too many possible explanations, which one is the: hindsight (after-the-fact) understanding. List and describe the steps in the sc. method. Define the 4 measurements techniques psyc use and one drawback for each. Psychologists are scientists: are precise, are sceptical, rely on empirical evidence, willing to make risky predictions, open and transparent. Psychological research scientific method: identify, hypothesize, test, analyse, build bodywork. Step 1: identify a question that interests you. Step 5: build a body of knowledge. Ask further questions, conduct more research, develop and test theories (a set of formal statements that explains how and why certain events are related to one another; theories are broader than hypotheses. ) Psychologist study variables and the relationship between them. Unobtrusive measures records behaviour in such a way that. In terms of specific procedures used to produce or measure it. A variable is any characteristic or factor that varies. Operational definitions translate abstract concepts into something observable and measurable.