Basics of Scientific Inquiry

Common sense claims

Common sense claims are often hunches based on anecdotal evidence: e.g. most people would not hurt another human being just because an authority figure told them too. Milgrams (1966) famous experiment into conformity. Approx 70% of those tested gave electric shocks to what they believed was another test subject, at a level high enough to kill them. Before carrying out the research, Milgram had asked other psychologists whether he should go ahead with the experiment. He was told that nearly all participants would withdraw before causing any pain.

Three lessons from Milgram

Skepticism is valuable. Careful observation under controlled
conditions is very important. Observer expectancy results are real and are research cancer. Clever Hans wasnt so clever, after all.

What Is Scientific Inquiry?

Four goals of scientific inquiry: Description (what happens) Prediction (when it happens) Causal control (what causes it to happen) Explanation (why it happens) How would we apply these goals to the study of the effects of alcohol intoxication?

An open mind and good imagination are not enough. Research in the psychological sciences requires a skeptical attitude and objective methodology.

Falsifiability
The case of blood-letting For a theory to be useful, the predictions
drawn from it must be specific. Tell us what will happen Tell us what will not happen How would we test for my ability to mind read?

The Bottom Line

Progress occurs in science when a

theory does not predict everything. Rather, science benefits from specific predictions about phenomena, made in advance. Falsifiability is liberating making mistakes furthers progress

Falsifiable or Unfalsifiable?
Pepsi tastes better than Coca Cola Psychics can speak to the dead Aliens abduct us, do medical experiments on us
and then return us, leaving no evidence

Pseudoscience
A theory with the empirical trappings of real science, including a system of theoretical concepts and a wealth of corroborating evidence. But a pseudo-science has built-in defense mechanisms against possible refutation. The Freudian theory provides an interpretation for every conceivable symptom of the patient. Its predictions therefore can never be refuted.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWE5N8z2Aa4

The Nature of Science

Order: there are regular patterns in events Determinism: events have identifiable causes Empiricism: theories should be based on publicly available evidence gathered through objective observation Parsimony: explanations should explain as much as possible as simply as possible

Ockham's Razor
A rule in science and philosophy stating that entities should not be multiplied needlessly. This rule is interpreted to mean that the simplest of two or more competing theories is preferable and that an explanation for unknown phenomena should first be attempted in terms of what is already known. Also called law of parsimony.

The Empirical Process

Building a Psychological Science

Facts:
objective statement, based on direct observation, reasonable people agree with

Theories:
Interrelated set of concepts designed to explain existing facts & generate new predictions

Hypotheses & Specific Predictions:

Predictions about new facts based on the theory

The Methods of Psychological Science

An Experiment Involves Manipulating Conditions

Manipulating independent variables and
measuring dependent variables helps to establish causal relationships

Random assignment helps create equivalent

groups

Types of Reasoning

Deductive Research
A top down approach
THEORY Your topic of interest

GENERAL

SPECIFIC
HYPOTHESIS -to test

IF: All oranges are fruit

and all fruit grows on trees THEN: oranges grow on trees Deductive process- Reasoning from general to particular. E.g. Start with a theory & look for instances that confirm this (deduction).

OBSERVATONS -that address your H1

CONFIRMATION -testing of H1 , accept H1 or reject to Null H0

Inductive Research
A bottom up approach
GENERAL SPECIFIC

OBSERVATIONS

DETECTION OF REGULARITIES

Inductive process- Reasoning

from particular to general E.g. Scientists may observe instances of a natural phenomenon and derive a general law (inductive)

HYPOTHESIS FORMULATION

DEVELOPMENT OF THEORY

Inductive or Deductive?
Dan is a liar so I predict that the next thing he
says will be a lie Bubba has seen his puppy gnaw on shoes so he predicts that puppies always gnaw on shoes Robins have nested under Rays carport for 3 years. He expects that they will nest there again this year. The gene for blue skin in fish also codes for aggression so Jane will not put her blue fish in with Elaines red fish.

The Experiment

Independent Variables are Manipulated by Experimenters

Experimenter control is the central feature
of IVs

IVs are NOT free to vary; instead, they

are fixed by design

Dependent Variables are Measured in Relation to IVs

DVs are said to depend on, be effects of, or be
caused by IVs

DV in alcohol intoxication study?

Identify the IV and DV

Jack does an experiment to determine whether

alcohol makes fish more aggressive Jane puts more water in the dough of her bread in order to make it rise better Martha gives her crying baby a popsicle because she thinks she may be teething Dr. Smith shows people violent movies and measures how quickly they eat a meal afterward Wanda puts one orchid in the sun and one in the shade because she wants to decrease growing time

An Experiment Involves Manipulating Conditions

Manipulating independent variables and
measuring dependent variables helps to establish causal relationships

Random assignment helps create

equivalent groups

List of Core Features of Experimental Methods:

Independent variables (IVs) Dependent variables (DVs) Random sampling from representative

populations Random assignment to conditions or treatments Efforts to control or minimize extraneous/irrelevant factors

Operational Definition
The quantification of a variable that
allows it to be measured

Concepts in scientific theories must in

some way be grounded in, or linked to, observable events that can be measured

Preexisting bias problem

Class Activity

James Randi
The Amazing Randi
Paranormal 1 million dollar
challenge
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nzw
wMmNRIVc