PSYC 2520 Chapter 2: Ch. 2 - From Hunches to Testable Hypotheses.pdf
1 Feb 2013
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Beginning behavioral research: a conceptual primer (7th ed. The context of discovery: coming up with leads. Look for leads in the discussion section of research reports: doing a literature search, defining variables & concepts, recasting leads into testable hypotheses, pulling the work together into a research proposal. Four hypothesis-generating heuristics: explaining paradoxical incidents in testable ways, recognizing potential hypotheses in analogies, metaphors, figures of speech, identifying conflicting conclusions for empirical adjudication, improving on older ideas. Operational definitions-- identify variables on the basis of the empirical conditions (operations) that are used to measure or manipulate the variables. Theoretical definitions-- assign the meaning of terms abstractly or generally. Can be found in apa dictionary of psychology. Construct validity-- establishing the relation of a concept to variables with which it should, theoretically, be associated positively, negatively, or not at all. Theories are sets of statements, generally including some hypotheses, connected by a logical argument.
