PSYC 1020H Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Scientific Progress, Descriptive Statistics, Research
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Step 1: formulate a testable hypothesis: operational definition describes the actions or operations that will be used to measure or control a variable, establish precisely what is meant by each variable in the context of a study. Step 3: collect the data: data collection techniques are procedures for making empirical observations and measurements. Step 4: analyze the data and draw conclusions: converted into numbers, use statistics to analyze. Step 5: report the findings: scientific progress is only achieved when researchers share their findings, prepare a report that is submitted to a journal for publication. Journal is a periodical that publishes technical and scholarly material, usually in a narrowly defined area of inquiry: publishing studies allows others to critique and evaluate the study. Advantages of the scientific approach: offers 2 major advantages, clarity and precision; researchers have to specify exactly what they are talking about, research methods consist of various approaches to the observation, measurement,