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submit one of your hypotheses generated during the in-class activity, along with a summary of one empirical (
peer-reviewed
) article. Your response must include:
Your hypothesis
Operational definitions for all variables in your hypothesis
Sources of Knowledge
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Accept the validity of information from a source that we
judge to be expert (e.g., teacher, parents, news)
Clinging to certain beliefs despite lack of evidence
(e.g., superstitions)
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Reasoning based on logic
Rationalism
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Tenacity
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Authority
Nonscientific sources of knowledge
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Based on empirical observation
Self-correction
Systematic observations
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Data – an empirical observation
Theory – organization of concepts
Two basic elements of scientific explanation:
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Scientific method:
Scientific sources of knowledge
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Objective observations (without bias)
Non-empirical: which band is the best?
Empirical: which band has sold the most records this
year?
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Non-empirical: what is the hardest major at Lynn?
Empirical: think of one!
Example
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Example
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Questions that can be answered through systematic
observations / scientific methodology
Empirical Questions
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Makes a framework for data (describe)
Makes useful hypotheses (predict)
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Explains falling apples, weight-lifting, and motion of the
planets
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Describes?
Predicts?
Germ theory
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Gravity
Examples
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General collection of ideas whose purpose is to
describe and predict
Theory
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Gathered through some systematic procedure
Conclusions subject to further testing
Simpler = better
Generates precise and accurate predictions
(hypotheses)
Specific
Falsifiable
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Precise/testable
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Parsimonious
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Data-driven
Characteristics of Theories
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How many white swans will prove this theory?
How many black swans will disprove this theory?
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But we can disprove it
We can never PROVE that all swans are white
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“All swans are white”
Falsifiability
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Science develops theories that can be disproven
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Potential to disprove
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Experiments support or fail to support these hypotheses
Theory is never proven
Hypotheses are developed based on the theory
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A good theory must be falsifiable
Falsification
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Science does not prove theories!
Falsifiability
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Not proven
Theories that are refuted are disproven
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Theories that are continually resistant to falsification
are supported
Science sets up theories then attempts to falsify
Falsification
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Use hypotheses to test theories
Use theories to generate hypotheses
Hypothesis: a reasoned prediction about some
outcome that should occur under certain
circumstances
Hypothesis
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E.g., older drivers are unsafe
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E.g., drivers older than 65 have more accidents when
turning left across traffic than younger drivers
Hypothesis – a specific, testable prediction that can
be evaluated by data
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Theory – a general collection of ideas whose
purpose is to describe and predict
Theory vs. Hypothesis
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Basic research – exploratory; expands knowledge
Applied research – applied; aims at solving specific
problems
Study human behavior and societal problems
Two types
Social Sciences
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Divided attention on computer screen
Production of false memories from word lists
Effect of a drug on cancer cells
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Limits of attention from using a cell phone while
driving
How false memories can be produced during
eyewitness testimony
Does a drug shrink tumors in human patients
Applied
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Basic
Basic vs. Applied Research
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Conducted in a controlled
laboratory environment
Settings more closely match
situations encountered in
daily living
Advantages/Disadvantages?
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Field research
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Laboratory research
Settings of Research
May be skepticism
Leads to a question
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Also based on observation or past research findings
Involves a specific relationship
2. Do background research
3. Construct a hypothesis
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1. Make an observation
The Scientific Method
Measuring the variables of interest
The study design differs depending on what you are
studying
Use statistics to test hypotheses and make conclusions
Now we have to think about the WHY (or the theory)
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Hypotheses supported?
7. Report results
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6. Evaluate hypothesis
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5. Analyze results
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4. Collect data
The Scientific Method
Gather Data to
Test
Predictions
Develop
Predictions
Refine
Hypotheses
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Science is the only
source of knowledge
that self-corrects!
A Note on Self-Correction
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Explain away inconsistencies or challenges from real
scientific inquiry
Vague in conclusions
Reduces complex phenomena to simple concepts
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Appears to use scientific methods, but is actually
based on inadequate, unscientific methods
Makes claims that are generally false
Sidesteps disproof
Pseudoscience
The Research Process
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Report your
results
Scholarly
journal
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Peer-review
process
How?
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Where?
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What is the last
step?
Scientific Method
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Authors describe their own observations
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Peer-reviewed
Scientific journals
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Firsthand report
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Authors discuss someone else’s observations
Examples?
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Secondhand report
Secondary source
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Primary source
Types of sources
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Report original research
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Still peer-reviewed
Summarize research findings in a field
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Secondary sources
Review articles
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Empirical articles
Scholarly articles
What goes in it?
Title, author, author’s contact information
One-paragraph summary of entire paper
Review of all relevant research, leads to current hypotheses
Detailed step-by-step description of what you did (may include
participants, design, materials, apparatus, procedure)
Statistical methods used to analyze the data
Discusses whether or not hypotheses were supported, implications of
findings, limitations of research, and future directions
Alphabetical list of all sources cited within the body of paper
Section
Title/Autho
r
Abstract
Introductio
n
Method
Results
Discussion
References
Parts of an empirical article
Title, Author
Abstract
Introduction
Method
Results – Tables
Results (cont.) – Figures
Discussion
References
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Reading Scientific Articles
Canvas Module 1
Resource
1.
2.
1.
1.
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Similar, but you might not get immediate access to
articles if you are off campus.
Google Scholar
Computerized literature search with almost all major
journals
Lynn Library Databases
There are several resources where you can obtain
literature on any research question:
How to do a literature search
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They must be answerable with data
Their terms must be precisely defined
Questions that can be answered through the systematic
observation and techniques that characterize scientific
methodology
Two important features:
Examples?
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Empirical questions
Asking Empirical Questions
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Coffee shop
Aggression in children
Kitty Genovese
Observation of the world around you leads to
questions
Examples
Empirical questions from
observations
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Act of discovering something while
looking for something else entirely
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Christopher Columbus
Penicillin
Velcro
Pavlov’s Dogs
Examples
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Serendipity
Empirical questions from
serendipity
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Gun violence
Tornados
Levees
Practical problems in need of a solution create
questions
Examples:
Empirical questions from practical
problems
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Studies are typically interrelated and lead to numerous
follow-up studies
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Initial “trial runs” of an experimental idea
Pilot studies
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Programs of research
Empirical questions from other
research
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A study that duplicates some or all of the procedures of
a prior study
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A study resembling a previous study, usually
replicating part of it, but going further and adding at
least one new feature
Partial replication
Extension
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Replication
Replication
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Summarizes existing empirical knowledge of the
phenomenon
Organizes knowledge in the form of precise statements
of relationships among variables
Provides a tentative explanation for the phenomenon
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What is an empirical question related to why there is so
much more seaweed at the beach in recent years?
Example
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Theory: a set of logically consistent statements
about some behavioral phenomenon
Empirical questions from theory
