PSYCO104 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Operational Definition, Visual Acuity, Scientific Method

• School: University of Alberta
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYCO104
• Professor: Geoff Hollis

Document Summary

The hypothetico-deductive model is the main framework for inquiry within the scientific method. Recall: i believe that all tvs are powered by minature hamsters. If i pry open a functional tv and find a live hamster inside! Does not prove it for tvs in general. Just because confirmatory evidence has been found, the hypothesis has not been proven. Never rules other possible explination. explainations are better. Thus, science is always open to the possiblility that other. The simplest/least complex explaination is preferable to a more complex. If two beliefs describe the same phenomenon equally well, we should generally prefer to work with the one that makes the fewest assumptions. Clocks work through series of interlocking gears vs. Clocks work through series of interlocking gears pushed by invisible little pink ponies. Often what happens in scientific research is that we do not immediately falsify a theory, but rather come up with an alternate theory that more succinctly explains a phenomenon.