Published on 1 Feb 2013
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PSYC 2520: Introduction to Experimental Psychology
Beginning Behavioral Research: A Conceptual Primer (7th Ed. 2012) Rosnow & Rosenthal
Chapter 2: From Hunches to Testable Hypotheses
Correlation does not imply causation
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Causation necessarily implies a correlation
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Look for leads in the discussion section of research reports
1) Coming up with leads
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2) Doing a literature search
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3) Defining variables & concepts
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4) Recasting leads into testable hypotheses
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5) Pulling the work together into a research proposal
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The Context of Discovery
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1) Explaining paradoxical incidents in testable ways
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2) Recognizing potential hypotheses in analogies, metaphors, figures of speech
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3) Identifying conflicting conclusions for empirical adjudication
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4) Improving on older ideas
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Four hypothesis-generating heuristics:
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Serendipity-- A lucky discovery
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Operational Definitions-- Identify variables on the basis of the empirical conditions (operations) that are used to measure or manipulate the variables
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Can be found in APA Dictionary of Psychology
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Theoretical Definitions-- Assign the meaning of terms abstractly or generally
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Construct Validity-- Establishing the relation of a concept to variables with which it should, theoretically, be associated positively, negatively, or not at
all
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Plausible
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Testable (operational)
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Falsifiable
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Succinct (coherent and parsimonious)
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Rigorous
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Theoretically appealing
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A good working hypothesis is:
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Theories are sets of statements, generally including some hypotheses, connected by a logical argument
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Manipulated by the researcher
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Should have an effect on the measurements
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Independent Variable (X)
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The variable that is measured
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Dependent Variable (Y)
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1) Describes the objective of the research
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2) Describes the background and hypotheses of the proposed investigation
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3) Describes the proposed sample of participants, method, and data analysis
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4) Describes the ethics of the proposed plan of investigation
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Four components of a research proposal:
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Ch. 2 - From Hunches to Testable Hypotheses
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
1:00 AM
Textbook Notes Page 1