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Ch. 2: Creative Ideas and Working Hypotheses

Ch. 2: Creative Ideas and Working Hypotheses. Discovery and Justification. Reichenbach’s (1938) “discovery phase” of the scientific method. Scientist as a kind of “Christopher Columbus” Justification phase is where: Working hypotheses are tested Conclusions are logically defended.

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Ch. 2: Creative Ideas and Working Hypotheses

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  1. Ch. 2: Creative Ideas and Working Hypotheses

  2. Discovery and Justification • Reichenbach’s (1938) “discovery phase” of the scientific method. • Scientist as a kind of “Christopher Columbus” • Justification phase is where: • Working hypotheses are tested • Conclusions are logically defended.

  3. Hypothesis-Generating Heuristics • Using an intensive case study • Making sense of a paradoxical incident • Using analogical thinking • Resolving conflicting results • Improving earlier theories and methods • Serendipity

  4. The Research Proposal • Working title • Objective • Proposed method • Proposed data analysis • Ethical considerations • Preliminary list of references

  5. Retrieving and Using Reference Materials • PsycINFO and other computerized databases • Importance of reading the entire actual work • Problems with reading just the abstract • Problems with relying on media reports

  6. Defining Terms and Variables • Operational Definitions: Define in terms of how will be measured or manipulated. • KEY: Must be linked to observable events. • Theoretical (or Conceptual) Definitions: Define in more abstract or general terms.

  7. Theories and Hypotheses • Hypothesis: A conjectural statement or supposition. • Gives direction to the researcher’s observations. • Theory: A set of explanatory statements connected by logical arguments and by explicit and implicit assumptions. • Generative theories

  8. Criteria for Acceptable Hypotheses • Correspondence with reality • Combination of coherence and parsimony • The principle of Occam’s razor • Falsifiability

  9. Constructs and Variables • Construct: A theoretical concept formulated to serve as causal or descriptive explanations. • Variable: Any event or condition that the researcher observes or measures or plans to investigate and that is liable to variation.

  10. Independent vs. Dependent Variables • Independent Variable: The presumed “cause” • Examples: Biological and social independent variables. • Interactions between independent variables. • Dependent Variable: The “effect” or outcome variable

  11. Examples of Dependent Variables • Direction of any observed change in behavior • The amount of the change • The ease with which a change is effected • The persistence of a change over time

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