PSYCH257 Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: Testability, Psych, Informed Consent

• School: University of Waterloo
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYCH257
• Professor: David Moscovitch

Document Summary

Using the scientific method, it is important to study the path of behaviours. To understand questions, you need to be a good consumer of research. Hypothesis: an educated guess about what you expect to find. Research design: plan of experimentation to test a hypothesis. Dependent variable: aspect you want to measure in the people you are studying. Internal validity: the extent to which we can be confident that the independent variable is causing the dependent variable to change. External validity: refers to how well the results relate to things outside your study. Abnormal behaviour defies normality so people are intrigued by studying it. In order to understand such behaviours, behavioural scientists construct hypotheses and then test them. After a scientist has a hypothesis, they must decide what to study and put in words that are unambiguous and in a form that is testable.