Student fears about ideas • Not “great” • Not original • Do we have the equipment? • Level of complexity • Plan statistics in advance •
Download ReportTranscript Student fears about ideas • Not “great” • Not original • Do we have the equipment? • Level of complexity • Plan statistics in advance •
Student fears about ideas
•
Not “great”
•
Not original
•
Do we have the equipment?
•
Level of complexity
•
Plan statistics in advance
•
Feasibility
© 2001 Dr. Laura Snodgrass, Ph.D.
1
Where do ideas come from?
•
My experiences
Find out why this happens?
Notice peculiarity Attempts to replicate Casual discussion of ability of blind Student Questions Why women don’t use their spatial ability to solve problems?
© 2001 Dr. Laura Snodgrass, Ph.D.
2
Where ideas come from
•
Existing theories make testable predictions
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Competing theories
•
Investigating functional relationships
•
Observation
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Replicate with small changes
•
Practical Problems
•
Journal articles end with suggestions
•
Serendipity
© 2001 Dr. Laura Snodgrass, Ph.D.
3
What makes a good hypothesis?
•
ROT test
Repeatable Observable (measurable) Testable •
Specific and limited to a population
•
State a relationship
© 2001 Dr. Laura Snodgrass, Ph.D.
4
Which of the following are “good” hypotheses?
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Beagles are smarter than poodles
•
The US would not have become involved in WWII if Japan hadn’t bombed Pearl Harbor
• •
Soccer players are better athletes than football players College students consume more beer per person than any other group
•
Our actions sometimes reflect conscious intentions, but are usually governed by subconscious urges
•
African Violets grow better in filtered than direct sunlight
•
Diamonds are a good investment
© 2001 Dr. Laura Snodgrass, Ph.D.
5
“good” hypotheses?
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Hondas are better cars than Toyotas
•
You learn more when studying for an essay exam than for a multiple choice exam
•
Religion makes people happy
•
The Oklahoma City bombing was more traumatic than the TWA plane crash
• •
Ginkgo improves your memory Housepets make people feel better.
© 2001 Dr. Laura Snodgrass, Ph.D.
6
Theory
Def: Statement about a not directly observable relationship
•
Cycle of reasoning
Observation leads to induction leads to theory leads to deduction leads to observation
Induction
- takes you from the specific to the general observe specifics and theorize about what is generally true
Deduction
- from the general to the specific We test theories by making predictions about specifics © 2001 Dr. Laura Snodgrass, Ph.D.
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Types of theories
•
Descriptive
- names without explanation •
Analogical
- analogy to a physical model •
Quantitative
- mathematical or probabilistic relationship © 2001 Dr. Laura Snodgrass, Ph.D.
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What makes a good theory?
•
Accounts for most of the data
•
Parsimony “Occam’s Razor”
the simplest explanation is the best •
Precision
•
Testable
•
Predictive
•
Generalizable
© 2001 Dr. Laura Snodgrass, Ph.D.
9
Why use theory?
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Organizes the data
•
Provides a framework to explain facts
• • •
Suggests future research 0 Provide answers to applied problems
•
Generates predictions
© 2001 Dr. Laura Snodgrass, Ph.D.
10
Why do a literature search?
•
Your experiment may already be there
•
Find the methods others have used What equipment did they use?
Questions about timing Borrow successful stimuli Who were their participants
•
Look at other people’s failures (can save you time)
•
Fit your idea into an organized body of knowledge
© 2001 Dr. Laura Snodgrass, Ph.D.
11
How to do a literature search
•
Books
- good general overview, but can have strong author bias •
Review Articles
- Psych Bulletin, Psych Review •
Tree backwards
- start with most recent article or textbook and then look up their references •
Psych Lit
- computerized search © 2001 Dr. Laura Snodgrass, Ph.D.
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