PSYC 100 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2.1-2.4: Operational Definition, Statistical Inference, Scatter Plot

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 100
• Professor: Jordan Poppenk

Document Summary

Explain the five principal steps of the scientific method. Scientific method: structured process seeking explanations for observed phenomena, make testable predictions, and then test them; help to create and test models of nature. Theories: idea or conceptual model that is designed to explain existing facts and make predictions about new facts that might be discovered. Darwin"s theory of evolution: natural selection; based off observation of numerous species; explains biological diversity fit" between organisms and their environment and how appearance and behavior of the species may change over many generations. Newton"s theory of evolution: idea that gravity gives weight to objects with mass and causes them to fall to the ground when dropped explains existence of sun, earth, and other planets. Theories are explanations; can explain data: supported, rejected, or modified based off of new evidence; hypothesis is used to test a theory.