PSY 0010 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Frequency Distribution, Skewness, Observer-Expectancy Effect
Document Summary
* scientific method: a set of principles about the appropriate relationship between ideas and evidence. * ibn al-haytham (965-1039): father of the scientific method. * theory: a hypothetical explanation of a natural phenomena. * hypothesis: a falsifiable prediction made by a theory. * empirical method: a set of rules and techniques for observation. * people are difficult to study because of complexity, variability, and reactivity. * must use methods of observation and methods of explanation. * operational definition: a specific, precise procedure by which a variables is defined and measured. * measure: a device that can detect the condition to which an operational definition refers (for example, an emg) * validity: the extent to which a measurement and a property are conceptually related. * reliability: the tendency for a measure to produce the same measurement whenever it is used to measure the same thing.
