Thinking Critically, What is Science?
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Presentation Transcript
Thinking Critically, What is Science? Psychology 1106
Introduction • What is science? • Guys in lab coats? • Test tubes? • Hmmmmmmm • Well, more than anything, science is a method of inquiry • There are many ways to ‘seek the truth’
Conventional Wisdom or Common Sense • If most people say or think something is true it is • Basically what gets us through everyday life • Old sayings • There are many contradictory ones • I don’t need any of your fancy science to understand human behaviour science boy. • Umm, that’s Dr. Science Boy…
Conventional Wisdom • ‘Intuitive physics’ • Male-female differences in cognition • ‘Crime is increasing’ • ‘The world is flat’ • So, conventional wisdom or common sense, except for things like ‘I should wear pants’ is pretty much useless
Religion • Belief based on faith • Seems to be designed for dealing with the metaphysical • Why are we here • What does it all mean • One does not usually believe in God because of some bit of evidence or rigorous experimentation • It is called faith for a reason
Legal Method • Getting at the truth based on the presentation of evidence • Not all evidence is admissible • Fairness is the key • System is weighted • Sometimes your defense is as good as your lawyer
Legal method • Laws are based on what society sees as fair • At one time the law said it was ok to smoke in public buildings • We decided that it no longer was • Try doing that with oh, Newton’s second law…
Scientific Method • Takes a bit from each method • Used for a certain set of problems • For specific reasons too • Started really in the late 1600s or so, Newton, Bacon and others
Characteristics of Scientific thinking • Empiricism • Direct observation and experimentation • Objectivity • Rely on measurement • Carefully controlled measurement • No bias • Take results at face value
Characteristics continued • Testability • Popper’s falsifiability principle Predictions drawn from a theory must be specific enough to allow the theory to be shown to be incorrect
Even more characteristics • Feasibility • Science deals with questions that are answerable using experimentation • Skepticism • Don’t believe it until you see it • Just because something seems right does not make it so • People who do not know what they are talking about see this as weakness of science • It is a strength, peer review is skepticism in practice
Key terms • Hypothesis • Statement about the relationship of variables • Independent variable • What you manipulate • Experimenter controlled • Dependent variable • Measured • Note, there can be more than one IV and more than one DV • Operational Definition • Defining a construct solely based on the operations used to measure it
Key Terms - Theory • We tend to say ‘just a theory’ like it’s a hunch • It is different in science • A set of statements that explain a variety of occurrences • A good theory makes predictions, organizes data and is testable • Theories change when new data show up to challenge them • You CANNOT prove a theory, you can only disprove it
More terms, more excitement!!!! • Deduction • Going from theory to data • Induction • Going from data to theory • Tend to be more limited • Deduced ones are broader • Still the good ones are precise
Testing theories • We test theories with many methods • Correlational research • Measure two variables, see if they are related • Examples • More smokes, more cncer • More IQ more money • Which way do they go? • Impossible to tell
Observational Research • Not just watching stuff happen • Careful measurements • Still use operational definitions • Examples • Rosenhan (1975) ‘On being sane in insane places • Turnbull (1987) ‘ The Forest People’
Experimentation • Have independent and dependent variables • Manipulate IV, measure DV • Control groups • Double blind procedures
Making Causal Inferences • To say that X causes Y we need three things: • Temporal precedence • Covariation • Elimination of alternative explanations • When we have an alternative explanation we call it a confound • These can be avoided with careful design
Ethics • Research must be ethical • Informed consent • No coercion • No deception unless necessary • Debriefing • There is a well established set of rules
