Chapter 1 Flashcards
The importance of the consumer role
-understand course contents
-discern quality of news stories, products, or programs
-for our future career/personal interest
The importance of the producer role
-completing course assignments
-for grad studies
-working in a lab
-working in industry
Similarities between the consumer and producer roles
-answer questions with direct and formal observations
-communicate with others about what they learned
-(the practice of empiricism)
Empiricism
relying on direct observations to gain knowledge or draw conclusions
3 rules of systematic empiricism
-structured observations
-observe with a definite purpose
-guided by a theory
What does systematic empiricism keep out?
Biases
Theory
a set of statements that describe general principles about how variables relate
Hypothesis and prediction are AKA what?
hypothesis: conceptual hypothesis
prediction: experimental hypothesis
Hypothesis
specific proposition that follows a theory that states the relation between 2 or more variables
Prediction
expected outcome/results of a study
2 types of logic
induction and deduction
induction
starting with multiple specific instances and looking for a general statement/theme among them
deduction
starting with a general statement and looking for a conclusion about multiple specific examples
4 parts of theory data cycle
data > induction > theory > deduction >data
objective poverty theory vs relative deprivation theory
objective: not able to afford basic needs
deprivation: feeling poor relative to others
4 features of good scientific theories
-supported by data
-falsifiable
-parsimony
-theories don’t PROVE anything
specify what it measns for a theory to be supported by data
consistent w observations and ties many observations together
methodological pluralism
a range of methods in the same piece of research
what does it mean for a theory to be falsifiable
-assertions can be proven false by a single, contrary observation
-assertions cant be proven true bc there’s always the chance of a contrary instance
-good theory leads to testable hypothesis
parsimony
avoiding making unnecessary assumptions and the simplest explanation is always preferred
strategy of strong inference
developing alternative hypotheses and ruling them out using data
Merton’s 4 norms of science
-universalism
-communality
-disinterestedness
-organized skepticism
Universalism
scientific claims are evaluated according to preestablished criteria and apply to all scientists REGARDLESS of the researcher’s credentials/reputation
Communality
scientific knowledge is created by a community and belongs to the community
