Chapter 1: Introduction to
Scientific Research
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Why learn about the scientific research
process
1. To learn the research process
2. To become a critical consumer of
information
3. Develop critical and analytic
thinking
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4. Critically read a research article
5. Admission into graduate programs
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Methods of Acquiring
Knowledge
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Tenacity （固執,成見）
– Similar to superstitions
– May be promoted by “mere exposure”
– Problems with knowledge acquired by
tenacity
May be inaccurate
 Does not provide mechanism for correcting
inaccurate knowledge
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– Used in science when a researcher persists in
the belief of a good idea
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Intuition—knowing without reasoning
– Used in forming some hypotheses (hunches)
– Problem—no mechanism for separating
accurate from inaccurate knowledge
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Authority—facts stated from a respected
source
– Can be used in the design phase of a study
– Problem—authority can be wrong
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Rationalism—knowledge from reasoning
– Used to derive hypotheses
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Empiricism—knowledge from experience
– Observation used to collect data in science
– Problem with this method of acquiring
knowledge
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Perception of the cause of our experience can be
biased
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Science
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Just another way of acquiring knowledge
– Assumed to be better than other methods
Because it is void of bias
 Testing procedures open to public inspection
 Not just one universal method of science
 Methods of science has changed over the centuries
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Scientific Methods
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Induction-specific to general reasoning
process
– Used from late 17th to middle of 19th century
– Still used today when generalize from specific
experiments to general hypotheses or theory
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Deduction-general to specific reasoning
process
– Involved in forming hypotheses from theory
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Hypothesis testing-testing a predicted
relationship from theory or experience
– Prominent from mid 19th century to about
1960 but still used extensively today
– Associated with logical positivists
Philosophical position started by scholars at
University of Vienna
 Believed that statements meaningful only when
verifiable by observation
 Is an inductive position-observation confirming a
general hypothesis
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– Critic-Popper and his falisfiction position
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Naturalism-evaluate science empirically
and methodology will evolve from this
study
– Kuhn and Paradigms
 Paradigm—framework
of thought or belief
 Science governed by two types of activities
– Normal science -shared paradigm
– Revolutionary science -replace one paradigm
with another
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Naturalism-evaluate science empirically
and methodology will evolve from this
study
– Lakatos and Research programs
Research program -framework in which a
scientific activity takes place
 Involve a succession of theories linked by a set of
fundamental principles
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Feyerabend’s Anarchists Theory of
Science
– No prior approach identified a distinguishing
feature of science
– Advocated that science does not give
knowledge superior to other forms of
knowledge
– His position-the unchanging principle of
scientific method is that “anything goes”
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Scientific knowledge is not better than other forms
of knowledge
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What is Science
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No universal, ahistorical method
Method has to be defined at a single stage
in the development of a field
– Consists of some specific aims to arrive at
knowledge of some specific kind, methods for
arriving at those aims together with the
standards for judging the extent to which they
are met, and specific facts and theories that
represent the current state of play as far as the
realization of the aim is concerned
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Overall result—there are many methods
and standards that vary from science to
science
Where do we get scientific knowledge
– Experimentation
Scientific progress is the steady buildup of
experimental knowledge
 Experimental knowledge is valid only if it is error
free
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Pseudoscience
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Definition—body of knowledge that
masquerades as science
Problem with pseudoscientific claims
– Can lead to the uncritical acceptance of
unsubstantiated claims
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Indicators of Pseudoscientific
Claims
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Overuse of ad hoc hypotheses to escape
refutation
– Characterized by statements that can’t be
falsified or ad hoc hypotheses to explain
problems with the claim
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Emphasis on confirmation rather than
refutation
– Science tried to prove hypotheses wrong
– Pseudoscience-focuses on confirming beliefs
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Absence of self-correction
– Does not try to verify or refute claims
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Reverse burden of proof
– Asks critics to prove that their claims are
wrong
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Overreliance on testimonials and
anecdotal evidence
– Science regards testimonials as possible
hypotheses to be tested
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Use of obscurantist language
– Language that confuses versus clarifies
– Uses scientific terms to sound respectable
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Absence of “connectivity” with other
disciplines
– Has new theories and paradigms
– Void of experimental evidence
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Advantage of the Scientific
Method
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Allows us to make objective observations
Allows us to establish the superiority of
one belief over another
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Characteristics of the
Scientific Approach
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Control—eliminating the influence of
extraneous variables
Operationism—representing constructs by
a specific set of operations
– Original focus was on operational def.
– Objections to strict operational definition
Demands too strict
 Each operational definition completely specified
the meaning of the term
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– Operationalism focuses on features used to
represent a construct Fig 1.1
Is essential for communication
 Are many different ways of representing
constructs
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– Multiple operationalism involves use of
multiple measures of a construct
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Replication—
– reproduction of results
By intergroup observations
 By intersubject observations
 By intrasubject observations
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– Reasons for failure to replicate
Effect doesn’t exist
 Replication study is not an exact replication
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Objectives of Science
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Description—describing the variables
Explanation—identifying causes
Prediction--forecasting
Control
– Definition—manipulations of conditions that
determine a phenomenon
– Different meanings of the word control
A comparison group
 Eliminating the influence of extraneous variables
 Manipulation of antecedent conditions
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Basic Assumption Underlying
Science
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Uniformity in nature or determinism
– Axioms underlying assumption of
determinism
Reality in nature
 Rationality—logical reason for events
 Regularity
 Discoverability
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Role of Theory in Science
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Summarize and integrate existing data
Guide research Fig 1.2
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Role of Scientist in Science
Curiosity
Patience
Objectivity
Change
• Not abandon all past facts and methods
• Be critical of the past and alter to facts or
techniques improved
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