PSYC 4321 Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: Bulimia Nervosa, Human Nature, Scientific Method
15 Sep 2018
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Examining abnormal behavior: human nature is complex, objective study of abnormal behavior is difficult/inaccessible. Start with a hypothesis: an educated guess about what you expect to find. Formulate a research design that includes the aspects you want to measure in the people you are studying (the dependent variable) and the influences on these characteristics or behaviors (the independent variable: need two forms of validity. Internal validity: confidence that the independent variable is causing the dependent variable to change: external validity: the extent to which the results can be generalized or applied outside the study. Hypothesis: once a scientist decides what to study, the next step is to put it in words that are unambiguous and in a form that is testable. Testability: the ability to support the hypothesis: allows us to say there is or is not a relationship between the things being studied.
