PSYB01H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Digital Object Identifier, Engineering Council, Newsbank, Inc.
Document Summary
Hypothesis a statement about something that may be true, a tentative idea of how two variables may relate to each other. Prediction researcher translates a hypothesis into something more specific. When results of a study are consistent with a prediction the hypothesis is only supported, not proven. Falsifiability the data can show that a hypothesis is false, if in fact it is false. Hypotheses are scientifically meaningful only if they can be falsified *using objective data, ie. it can be measured. 5 sources of ideas: common assumptions, observation of the world around us, practical problems, theories and past research: questioning common assumptions: Researchers can question common sense beliefs within a culture: observation of the world around us: Roger buehler: people underestimate the length of time to complete a project when the task involves multiple steps. Serendipity sometimes the most interesting discoveries are the result of accident or sheer luck.
