2. HYPOTHESIS- Is the thesis or main idea, of an experiment it is a statement
about a predicted relationship between at least two variables.
Non Experimental hypothesis
Is a statement of your predictions of how events, traits or behaviors might be related, not a
statement about cause and effect.
Experimental hypothesis
Is a tentative explanation of an event or behavior, it is a statement that explains the effect of
specified antecedent conditions or a measured behavior.
Synthetic Statements
Synthetic Statements are those that can be either true or false.
3. TWO CATEGORIES OF NON SYNTHETIC
STATEMENTS:
1. Analytic Statements:
- Is one that is always true.
2. Contradictory Statements:
- Statements with elements that oppose each other because contradictory
statements are always false.
Testable Statements:
An Experimental hypothesis must be also be testable, that is means for
manipulating antecedent conditions and measuring the resulting behavior must
exist.
5. THE INDUCTIVE MODEL
The inductive model of formulating hypothesis,
the process of reasoning from specific cases to more
general principles, is often used in science and
mathematics.
Research hypotheses often come from the use of inductive
reasoning.
6. B.F Skinner was a convincing
advocate for inductive research in
psychology. Skinner studied operant
conditioning in rats and pigeons. In
operant conditioning, the organism is
reinforced or rewarded when it
produces a particular response, such
as bar pressing, which has been
selected by the experimenter for
reinforcement.
7. DEDUCTIVE MODEL
The deductive model of formulating a hypothesis is the reverse of
the inductive model. Deduction is the process of reasoning from
general principles to make predictions about specific instances. The
deductive model is most useful when we have a well-developed
theory with clearly stated basic premises. Then it is possible to
deduce predictions about what should happen in new situations in
which the theory would apply. Testing such predictions provides a
test of the value of the theory.
8.
9. The most useful way of finding hypotheses is by working from
research that has already been done
Ex: The research on cigarette smoking and cancer
Prior experimental research is an excellent source of hypotheses
10. SERENDIPITY
The word comes from the 18th
century tale “Three Principles of
Serendip” by Horace Walpole
It is knack of finding things that are not being sought
11. IVAN PAVLOV (1927)
Russian physiologist whose main interest was the digestive
glands
His studies involved feeding dogs and observing the changes that
occurred in their stomach secretion
Salivation
“Psychic Secretions”
Classical Conditioning
12. Won the Nobel prize for his work on digestion but also made
unplanned contribution to the psychological study of learning
He was able to distinguish between a commonplace incident and
something of great importance
He continued his research, performing many new experiments
and offering unique interpretations of his findings
13. SERENDIPITY
Can be useful in generating new hypotheses only
when we are open to new possibilities
Is not just a matter of luck; it is also a matter of
knowing enough to use an opportunity
14. IN PSYCHOLOGY…
Intuition is not discussed in most
experimental texts.
But using intuition is not necessarily
unscientific.
15. INTUITION
Defined as knowing without reasoning.
Guides what we choose to study.
Most accurate if it comes from expert,
according to Herbert Simon.
16. May have a tentative explanation for behavior
and events.
Should not destroy the objectivity.
INTUITION
17. WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS…
If you feel completely lost, here are some suggestions that have helped other students.
One method is to pick a Psychological Journal from your library’s shelves and just read through
an issue.
• Perhaps you like learning and memory. If so, that is the place to start. Once you
select some broad areas interest, reread the sections on these areas in an introductory
psychology text. You may now be able to narrow the number of possible topics even further.
• Perhaps you are most interested in the work on learning lists of words. Now locate
the latest research that has been done in this area. You might have to do quite a bit of
reading before you can derive a hypothesis of your own.
18. Here is another suggestion:
Try Observation. Some very good hypotheses come from observing how people behave in
public places.
• Causal Attributions – Causal attributions are suspected or inferred causes of
behavior. Even though our causal attributions tend to be self-serving and are often invalid, it is
important to understand how people formulate attributions because they profoundly affect
organizational behavior.
We search for a cause to which we can attribute someone’s behavior.
• Dispositional- In an internal, or dispositional, attribution, people infer that an event
or a person’s behavior is due to personal factors such as traits, abilities, or feelings.
19. • Situational- In an external, or situational, attribution, people infer that a person’s
behavior is due to situational factors.
Example:
Maria’s car breaks down on the freeway. If she believes the breakdown happened
because of her ignorance about cars, she is making an internal attribution. If she believes
that the breakdown happened because her car is old, she is making an external attribution.
Finally, if all else fails,
• Turn your attention to a real-world problem and try to figure out what causes it. An
added benefit of this approach is that once the cause can be determined, a solution often
suggests itself.
20. The effects of stereotyping have been studied more by psychologists than
by researchers in any other discipline.
Stereotype researchers Spencer, Steele, and Quinn conducted an
interesting experiment to find out. They hypothesized that women would perform
more poorly on this test than men did. The research sample consisted of male and
female college students (who had received grades of B or better in calculus).
COUNTERSTEREOTYPIC PERFORMANCE
21. Searching the Research Literature
Getting Started:
Once you have decided on a hypothesis, you will want to
become familiar with other published studies in your topic.
22. Another particular good source of information is
META- ANALYSIS.
META-ANALYSIS is a statistical reviewing procedure
that uses data from many similar studies to summarize
research findings about individual topics.
23. Writing the Report
The Introduction section of a research
report consists of a selective review of
relevant, recent research.
24. Discussion section
Finding the Articles You Need
Fortunately, many library and Web-based aids can help
you find the journal articles you need.
Summary
Most psychological research is designed to test a hypothesis.
25. Hypothesis is a tentative explanation of behavior,
is the thesis main idea of the research
Non-Experimental hypothesis is a
statement of your predictions about the association
between the variables under study.
26. For true experiments, the experimental hypothesis
predicts the effects of specified antecedents on behavior.
It has several characteristics:
First, it must be a synthetic statement.
Second, the experimental hypothesis must be testable
and it must also be parsimonious.
