Chapter 1- Acquiring Knowledge and Scientific Method

Question 1

Methods of acquiring knowledge

Answer 1

ways in which a person can know things or discover answers to questions

Question 2

method of tenacity

Answer 2

information is accepted as true because it has always been believed or because superstition supports it

Question 3

method of intuition

Answer 3

information is accepted on the basis of a hunch or “gut feeling”

Question 4

method of authority

Answer 4

a person relies on info or answers from an expert in the subject area

Question 5

method of faith

Answer 5

a variant of the method of authority in which people have unquestioning trust in the authority figure and, therefore, accept information from the authority without doubt or challenge.

Question 6

the rational method, or rationalism

Answer 6

seeks answers by the use of logical reasoning.

Question 7

logical reasoning

Answer 7

premise statements describe facts or assumptions that are presumed to be true.

Question 8

argument

Answer 8

is a set of premise statements that are logically combined to yield a conclusion.

Question 9

empirical method, or empiricism

Answer 9

uses observation or direct sensory experience to obtain knowledge.

Question 10

tenacity

Answer 10

from habit or superstition

Question 11

intuition

Answer 11

from a hunch or feeling

Question 12

authority

Answer 12

from an expert

Question 13

rationalism

Answer 13

from reasoning; a logical conclusion

Question 14

empiricism

Answer 14

from direct sensory observation

Question 15

scientific method

Answer 15

A method of acquiring knowledge that uses observations to develop a hypothesis, then uses the hypothesis to make logical predictions that can be empirically tested by making additional, systematic observations. Typically, the new observations lead to a new hypothesis, and the cycle continues.

Question 16

induction, or inductive reasoning

Answer 16

involves using a relatively small set of specific observations as the basis for forming a general statement about a larger set of possible observations.

Question 17

variables

Answer 17

characteristics or conditions that change or have different values for different individuals. For example, the weather, the economy, and your state of health can change from day to day. Also, two people can be different in terms of personality, intelligence, age, gender, self-esteem, height, weight, and so on.

Question 18

hypothesis

Answer 18

a statement that describes or explains a relationship between or among variables. A hypothesis is not a final answer but rather a proposal to be tested and evaluated. For example, a researcher might hypothesize that there is a relationship between personality characteristics and cigarette smoking. Or another researcher might hypothesize that a dark and dreary environment causes winter depression.

Question 19

deduction, or deductive reasoning

Answer 19

uses a general statement as the basis for reaching a conclusion about specific examples.

Question 20

quantitative research

Answer 20

is based on measuring variables for individual participants to obtain scores, usually numerical values, which are submitted to statistical analysis for summary and interpretation.

Question 21

qualitative research

Answer 21

is based on making observations that are summarized and interpreted in a narrative report.

Question 22

participants

Answer 22

individuals who take part in research studies (humans)

Question 23

subjects

Answer 23

nonhuman participants