PSYCH 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Operational Definition, Scientific Method, Random Assignment
10 Dec 2017
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Document Summary
Theory testing- the goal of psychology research is to develop theories. Scientific theory: an explanation for a phenomenon that can be falsified and that involves entities that cannot be directly observed. A theory is an explanation which means that it describes how some phenomenon happens rather than just stating the relationship between variables. In order to be a scientific theory, the explanation must be falsifiable meaning that there must be some hypothetical facts that would prove the theory false. An explanation that cannot be falsified generate any predictions and therefore cannot be tested. A theory must involve entities that cannot be directly observed because otherwise the explanation can be verified by direct observation and a theory is unnecessary. Theory testing works by using the theory to generate predictions about observable events. The theory is used to generate a prediction about observable events called a hypothesis.
