Week 1 Flashcards
(26 cards)
Scientific Research
is defined by the systematic application of prediction, experimentation, observation, measurement, evaluation, and communication.
Epistemology
Is the study of the nature of knowledge and it is acquired.
Importantly it asks how knowledge is validated.
Method of tenacity (Obstinacy)
Reliance on tradition, accepted truths, and habits. Learned through “mere exposure” or habitual practice.
Advantage of Method of Tenacity
- Safe, doesn’t create new problems.
- If it worked before, it will continue work.
- Efficient with resources (short-term)
Disadvantages to Method of Tenacity
- No improvements or error correction.
- tends to lose out in competitive environments.
The Intuition Method
Believing what “feels” right (gut feeling). Maybe affected by folk beliefs and superstition. Mark we’d by an absence of deliberation or reasoning.
Advantages of The Intuition Method
- Easy
- Self-reinforcing
Disadvantages of The Intuition Method
- Highly subjective
- Based on emotion
- Susceptible to confirmation bias
- Unlikely to gain or improve knowledge
The Method of Authority
Believing what we are told. Often portrayed as trust in people with authority or high status. All education system and consumers of media use this. Often used to enforce belief system.
Advantages of Method of Authority
- Very efficient
- Often helpful
- Effective for social cohesion (religion and military delay on this)
Disadvantages of The Method of Authority
- Authorities can be wrong
- We don’t know how the “authority” originally acquired the info.
- Competing authorities
- Susceptible to confirmation bias
- Fake experts on the internet
The Rational Inductive Method
Armchair philosophy
Working from specific facts or observations to formulate general hypothesis about nature.
- If x and y are true, what logically follow?
- Often used extensively in humanities.
- Often inductive, can be deductive.
The advantages of The Rational Inductive Method
Very productive in generating hypotheses.
Necessary (but not sufficient) for science.
The disadvantages of the rational inductive method
Assumptions may be incorrect, making the conclusions unjustified.
Can’t independently confirm the hypothesis.
Can be susceptible to subjective and bias, as facts and premises may be chosen to support a specific conclusion.
The descriptive method
Categorizing nature: Collecting specimens and directly observing important features of nature. (Not from someone else)
The advantages of the Descriptive method
High ecological validity: phenomena are carefully observed in their natural environment (real world), not only in a laboratory.
Essential for generating ideas and collecting data in science.
The disadvantage of the Descriptive Method
No immediate attempt to understand the cause and effect relationships. (Although, may often uncover correlation)
Can’t observe everything.
The Experimental Method
Understanding nature through controlled manipulation of events
Focuses on predicting and explaining observed phenomena.
Attempts to establish cause-and-effect relationships.
Basic components of an experiment
- independent variable
- dependent variable
- hypothesis
- confound
independent variable
The manipulated factor.
Values are known in advance of the experiment.
Ex: different dosages, or different treatment types.
Dependent variable
This is what the experimenter measures.
Values are not known in advance.
Hypothesis
Stated before the experiment is run, this makes a prediction as to what the measurement of the dependent variable will be.
Confound
Hidden (uncontrolled) variable that may affect the outcome of your experiment or allow alternative explanations.
The advantages of the experimental method
- establish casual relationships between the independent and dependent variables.
- rather objective with less bias and subjective actors.
