"The scientific method is an empirical method for acquiring knowledge that has characterized the development of science since at least the 17th century."
This topic focuses on evaluating the quality of research studies based on various criteria like methodology, results, and conclusions.
Research design: This topic covers the various research designs used in psychology such as experimental, quasi-experimental, observational, and correlational studies.
Sampling: Sampling is the process of selecting a representative sample from the population under study. This topic covers the different sampling techniques and their respective advantages and disadvantages.
Hypothesis testing: Hypothesis testing is the process of testing a hypothesis using statistical methods. This topic covers the different types of hypotheses, statistical tests, and levels of significance.
Data collection: Data collection involves collecting data from participants using different methods such as questionnaires, interviews, and observations. This topic covers the different methods of data collection and their respective advantages and disadvantages.
Data analysis: Data analysis involves analyzing the collected data using statistical methods. This topic covers the different statistical methods used in data analysis such as descriptive and inferential statistics.
Ethics in research: Ethics in research refers to the ethical considerations that researchers must take into account when conducting research with humans or animals. This topic covers the different ethical issues in research and guidelines for ethical research practices.
Research validity: Research validity refers to the accuracy and credibility of research findings. This topic covers the different types of validity such as internal, external, and construct validity.
Research reliability: Research reliability refers to the consistency of research findings. This topic covers the different types of reliability such as test-retest reliability and inter-rater reliability.
Bias in research: Bias in research refers to the distortion of research findings due to various factors such as researcher bias and participant bias. This topic covers the different types of bias and how to minimize them.
Systematic reviews and meta-analyses: Systematic reviews and meta-analyses are research methods used to synthesize and analyze multiple studies on a particular topic. This topic covers the principles and methods of systematic reviews and meta-analyses.
Validity and reliability of measures: This topic covers the different types of measures used in psychology such as self-report measures, behavioral measures, and physiological measures, and how to establish their validity and reliability.
Research questions and hypotheses: This topic covers the development of research questions and hypotheses based on the research problem and theoretical framework.
Research paradigms: Research paradigms refer to the underlying assumptions and methods used in research. This topic covers the different research paradigms such as positivism, interpretivism, and critical theory.
Qualitative and quantitative research methods: This topic covers the differences between qualitative and quantitative research methods, their respective strengths and weaknesses, and when to use each method.
Causal inference: Causal inference refers to the ability to infer cause-and-effect relationships from research findings. This topic covers the principles and methods of causal inference.
Peer review: Analysis and evaluation of the research by experts in the field before publication.
Replication studies: Tests the conclusions of a study by repeating the experiment with different samples or methods to assess whether the results can be reproduced.
Meta-analysis: Statistical method that combines multiple studies on the same topic, to generalize results and evaluate the strength of effect.
Coherence: Evaluates the alignment of research efforts with what is known about the issue, its context, and its implications.
External validity: The extent to which study findings can be generalized to other populations or settings, beyond the research conditions used in the original experiment.
Internal validity: The extent to which the research design and methods control for extraneous variables and biases, in order to isolate the effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable.
Construct validity: The appropriateness of the research instrument or test to measure what it claims to measure.
Reliability: The extent to which repeated measurements of the same variables produce consistent and stable results.
Bias: Systematic deviations from the truth or accuracy due to errors in sampling, data collection, or data analysis.
Ethical considerations: Evaluates the adherence to ethical principles in conducting research with human subjects or animals, including informed consent, privacy, confidentiality, and avoiding harm.
"since at least the 17th century (with notable practitioners in previous centuries; see the article history of scientific method for additional detail.)"
"It involves careful observation, applying rigorous skepticism about what is observed, given that cognitive assumptions can distort how one interprets the observation."
"It involves formulating hypotheses, via induction, based on such observations; the testability of hypotheses, experimental and the measurement-based statistical testing of deductions drawn from the hypotheses."
"refinement (or elimination) of the hypotheses based on the experimental findings."
"Although procedures vary from one field of inquiry to another, the underlying process is frequently the same from one field to another."
"The process in the scientific method involves making conjectures (hypothetical explanations), deriving predictions from the hypotheses as logical consequences, and then carrying out experiments or empirical observations based on those predictions."
"A scientific hypothesis must be falsifiable, implying that it is possible to identify a possible outcome of an experiment or observation that conflicts with predictions deduced from the hypothesis; otherwise, the hypothesis cannot be meaningfully tested."
"The purpose of an experiment is to determine whether observations agree with or conflict with the expectations deduced from a hypothesis."
"Experiments can take place anywhere from a garage to a remote mountaintop to CERN's Large Hadron Collider."
"Though the scientific method is often presented as a fixed sequence of steps, it represents rather a set of general principles."
"Not all steps take place in every scientific inquiry (nor to the same degree)."
"They are not always in the same order."
"A hypothesis is a conjecture, based on knowledge obtained while seeking answers to the question."
"Scientists then test hypotheses by conducting experiments or studies."
"applying rigorous skepticism about what is observed, given that cognitive assumptions can distort how one interprets the observation."
"given that cognitive assumptions can distort how one interprets the observation."
"given that cognitive assumptions can distort how one interprets the observation."
"the testability of hypotheses, experimental and the measurement-based statistical testing of deductions drawn from the hypotheses."
"...the development of science since at least the 17th century... acquiring knowledge."