PSYC 100 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Naturalistic Observation, Banana Bread, Descriptive Statistics

• School: Simon Fraser University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 100
• Professor: Sherri Atwood

Document Summary

Observe: use one"s sense to learn about the properties of an event or object. Empiricism is an essential element of the scientific method. The scientific method suggests that we have an idea about the world; we should gather empirical evidence relevant to the idea and then modify the idea to fit with the evidence. When scientists develop a theory, they usually refer to the rule of parsimony: the simplest theory that explains all the evidence is the best one. People are difficult to study because of complexity, variability, and reactivity. Reactivity - behaviour changes when being watched. Methods of observation and methods of explanation must be used. Any characteristic that can vary and can be measured. Ex - stress, weight, reaction time, depression, self-esteem. Defines a variable in terms of specific procedures used to produce or measure it. We have to define a variable that makes it easy to measure it. Define it in a measurable type of way.