PSYA01H3 Chapter Notes -Confounding, Central Tendency, Stereoscopy
Document Summary
Chapter 2 the ways and means of psychology. Scientific method: a set of rules that govern the collection and analysis of data gained thought observational studies or experiments. Psychologists conduct 3 major types of scientific research: Naturalistic observation: the observation of the behaviour of people or other animals in their natural environments. Clinical observation: the observation of the behaviour of people who are undergoing diagnosis or treatment. Natural observations provide the foundations of the biological and social sciences (e. g. Darwin and his travels around the world helped with his theory on evolution, montessori and her observation of children in the classroom helped her ideas about child development) Correlational studies: is observational in nature but involves more formal measurement-of environmental events, of individuals physical and social characteristics, and of their behaviour. Experiments: a study in which the researcher changes the value of an independent variable and observes whether this manipulation affects the value of a dependent variable.
