PSYB32H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Random Assignment, Binge Drinking, Blind Experiment
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1chapter 5: research methods in the study of abnormal behaviour. Science: is the pursuit of systemized knowledge through observation. Scire- (cid:862) to know(cid:863) refers (cid:271)oth to a method: the systematic acquisition and evaluation of information and to a goal: the development of general theories that explain the information. Its important that scientific observations are testable and replicable. Whatever that is observed must be replicable, if it cannot be produced, scientists become wary of the legitimacy of the original observation. Theory: is a set of propositions meant to explain a class of phenomena. Theory permits the generation of hypotheses: expectations about what should occur if a theory is true, to be tested in research. Theories are constructions put together by scientists. Scientists must make use of theoretical concepts: unobservable states or processes that are inferred from observable data. Operationism: that each concept take as its meaning a single observable and measurable operation.
