Scientists are engaged in explaining and understanding how the world around them works, and they are able to do so by coming up with theories that generate hypotheses that are testable and falsifiable. Theories that stand up to their tests are retained and refined, while those that do not are discarded or modified. In this…
Research
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
– Discuss how research involving human subjects is regulated
– Summarize the processes of informed consent and debriefing
– Explain how research involving animal subjects is regulated
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
– Explain what a correlation coefficient tells us about the relationship between variables
– Recognize that correlation does not indicate a cause-and-effect relationship between variables
– Discuss our tendency to look for relationships between variables that do not really exist
– Explain random sampling…
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
– Describe the different research methods used by psychologists
– Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of case studies, naturalistic observation, surveys, and archival research
– Compare longitudinal and cross-sectional approaches to research
– Compare and contrast correlation and causation
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
– Explain how scientific research addresses questions about behavior
– Discuss how scientific research guides public policy
– Appreciate how scientific research can be important in making personal decisions