PSY230H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Scientific Method, Personality Psychology, Testability
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PSY230H1 Full Course Notes
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Types of data laypersons vs professional personality psychologists. Both look for clues to confirm their explanations. But, personality psychologists use the scientific method to conduct research. An approach to understanding the world that involves systematic observation, measurement, experimentation & formulation. Observe something of interest in the real world. Personality psychologist makes systematic observations to explore these differences. Generate an explanation for behaviour, i. e. , come up with a theory. General statement about the relationship between constructs or events. Testability (usefulness): allows derivation of precise & testable hypotheses. Compatibility & integration across domains: consistent with what is already known. Formal prediction about the relationship between two or more variables that is logically derived from the theory. Collect data to see whether your prediction is supported or refuted. We can test whether the results are statistically significant. What are the chances that i found this result just due to chance? .
