PSYC 1030H Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: General Idea, Scientific Method, Dependent And Independent Variables

• School: Trent University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 1030H
• Professor: James Parker

Document Summary

Questions have to be answered through careful observation. Questions must also be testable -> must be able to attach operational definitions to all variables. This requires a systematic way of collecting and understanding data . Validity: extent to which observations actually reflect the topic of interest in a given study. 7 stages of the scientific method in psychology: description of the research problem: This stage sets the stage for all later stages. At this stage we acquire our topic of study. We begin to transform it from a general idea into a testable study. We create or choose our operational definitions for the study. Operational definitions: how behaviors or qualities in terms of how they are to be measured. An example: consider three possible definitions for measuring romantic love : items on a self report scale: I feel light-headed when i"m around him/her (yes/no) I can"t stop thinking about him/her when we are not together (yes/no)