KIN301 Midterm: summary of the readings for the first midterm

245 views7 pages
16 Oct 2011
Department
Course
Professor

Document Summary

Science is a set of systematic approaches to uncovering truth about. In the olden days experiments were mostly trial and error like the pyramids phenomena of interest. Basic research is aimed at uncovering new knowledge to develop theory. Applied research is aimed solving a practical problem of some immediate importance. The goal of quantitative research is normally inference and generalization. Goal of qualitative research is often exploration of qualitative dimensions of the phenomenon, and/or hypothesis generation. Types of empirical research: descriptive; characterizing the nature of a phenomenon population or other entity, correlational; examining the nature and magnitude of association among variables of interest. Longitudinal: experimental; explaining the causal effect of one variable on another variable of interest. A variable is a characteristic or trait of a person or thing that can be classified or measured. Scientific explanations have to be; empirical , rational, testable, parsimonious, general, tentative and rigorously evaluated.