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Science and Psychology: odds and ends

Science and Psychology: odds and ends. Causation Operational definitions. Causation. Understanding = finding causes 3 conditions for inferring causation (JS Mill) The cause must precede the effect The cause must be related to the effect Method of agreement Method of difference

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Science and Psychology: odds and ends

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  1. Science and Psychology: odds and ends • Causation • Operational definitions

  2. Causation • Understanding = finding causes • 3 conditions for inferring causation (JS Mill) • The cause must precede the effect • The cause must be related to the effect • Method of agreement • Method of difference • Method of concomitant variation • Other explanations must be ruled out

  3. Operational Definitions • Scientific concepts must be tied to observable operations • Operational definitions state the means of measuring a concept • Example: STM capacity is operationally defined as number of digits remembered • Converging operations: having multiple operational definitions for a concept

  4. Developing a Research Question • Where do research questions come from? • Narrowing down the question • Sources of information • Textbooks and Handbooks • Literature searches • Internet searches

  5. Where do research questions come from? • Logically derived from theory • Developed to resolve conflicting research results • From case studies, observation, and other non-experimental research • Failure of a theory to explain things from your personal experience • Serendipity – finding things you were not looking for

  6. Narrowing down the question • It’s easy to have a question that is too broad, but hard to have one that is too narrow • “Metaphor” is too broad, but “metaphor comprehension by bilingual speakers” might not be

  7. Sources of Information • Textbooks and Handbooks • Identify important studies • Narrow down the topic • Literature Search • Computerized databases via the web • PsycInfo – search journal articles by author, title, subject • SSCI – search for articles that cite an important study, or find out what sources an article cites • Internet Searches • Search engines and meta-engines • Buyer beware!!! • Consider the source

  8. Examples of Literature and Internet Searches • PsycInfo • SSCI (Social Science Citation Index) • Internet search engines • Google – no payola to determine order of search results • HotBot • Metacrawler – meta-engine; searches output of several search engines

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