PSYC 1010 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Operational Definition, Online Interview

• School: York University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 1010
• Professor: Rebecca Jubis

Document Summary

Everything we know about human behaviour is derived from research. Start with theory (a coherent network of explanatory ideas. Hypothesis (specific predictions derived from the theory) Before you come up with a hypothesis, you have to come up with what is called an operational definition . You have to define your terms very specifically, so if a future researcher wants to replicate your study, they will know exactly what to do. Give the frustrated person something to hit, then you have to define hit . Number of hits, possibly the strength at which they hit it, are measured to determine how aggressive they are. Hypothesis: frustrated persons would be more aggressive than the control group. We can never prove a theory to be true. In order for this theory to be true, you must test every possible group theory. Never throw out a theory on the basis of one study. If you think you have a flaw, redesign your study.