PSYCH 1X03 Chapter Notes - Chapter all: Operational Definition, Scientific Method, Empiricism
12 Apr 2016
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Psychology textbook notes: research methods 1 & 2. When a dog waits for their owner by the door right before they come home Operational definition: describes the actions or operations that will be made to objectively measure or control a variable. 2 important points to remember as you start to encounter psychological research in action are that: 1) operational definitions are necessary 2) they are always open to argument. Paradigms: a set of assumptions and ideas about what kind of research questions can be asked and how they can be answered. By integrating information from a range of different approaches in our attempt to understand human psychology, new fields open up due to multiple levels of analysis. Multiple levels of analysis create the most accurate, well rounded theories. The scientific method allows us to put our own presumptions aside. Scientists prefer to pick the simpler of two explanations for a phenomenon. A simple explanation tends to have less assumptions.
