031 014 Exam 1 Study Guide Lectures 1 7 Lecture 1 January 22 What is the civic science view Science is a key form of empowerment Science is also political in that in shapes how we interact together and it is an agency in that it is most effective when people can take ownership of it taking the results to change their communities Lecture 2 January 27 What makes science special All things studied in science are comprised of observable measures falsifiable theories hypotheses and rigorous testing Observable measures must be reliable and valid A measure is considered reliable when you get the same results each time no matter who s doing the measuring A valid measurement means that the correspondence that what a certain measuring tool measures is in fact what we assume think it measures like a thermometer for example Scientific studies begin with falsifiable theories hypotheses A hypothesis is an educated prediction but as any prediction there must be a chance that it can be proven wrong Scientists then conduct rigorous amounts of tests to determine if the hypothesis is correct What are the steps of the scientific method The steps of the scientific method are 1 Choose a question to answer 2 Formulate a hypothesis that relates to the question 3 Develop methods to test the hypothesis 4 Draw a conclusion based on the results 5 Repeat and continue testing you take a general theory make a specific hypothesis and then conduct the experiment Lecture 3 January 29 How do you apply the scientific method The first step is to come up with a question such as how do we explain the behavior of a shy child struggling to keep up in class The second step is to then formulate a hypothesis in the case of the previous question your hypothesis could be that perhaps there s a language barrier or the parents don t encourage the child enough These first two steps bring together the first elements of the scientific method The third step is to test the hypothesis using appropriate methods What are the 7 themes research questions are based on 1 Nature and Nurture a Nature refers to our biological endowment especially the genes we receive from our parents People who believe in the nature approach are known as nativists b Nurture refers to the physical and social environments that influence our development People who believe in the nurture approach are known as empiricists 2 The active child a Development is all about activity and children are active explorers active learners Children actively choose their environments friends and activities which all shape their developmental trajectories Activity in the first few years of childhood shapes attentional patterns language and play 3 Continuity and Discontinuity a Continuous development is when development occurs gradually like the gradual growth of a tree Because the development is gradual it is known as quantitative change b Discontinuous development is when development occurs via sudden jumps to new behaviors stage theories like the stages of growth from a caterpillar becoming a butterfly Because the development occurs in sudden stages of change it is known as qualitative change It isn t continuous vs discontinuous it can be both 4 Mechanisms of developmental change a This theme looks at how change happens One example is to use ideas from Darwin s theory of evolution which presents the ideas of variation and selection Variation is the idea that organisms generate a lot of different thoughts and behaviors and selection is the idea that organisms carefully select traits over time in order to strengthen the patterns that are successful 5 The sociocultural context a Development is embedded in structured contexts These contexts which include physical social cultural economic and historical circumstances create an environment for development 6 Individual differences a Various factors can play into effect when looking at individual s differences For example genes interacting with the environment GxE individuals are treated differently by others individuals react differently to treatment by others and individuals choose different environments 7 Research and children s welfare a There are many practical benefits of developmental research For example it can be used to design intervention and prevention programs How can you conduct experiments with infants as participants Although infants are limited in ability there are ways you can include them These infant methodologies paradigms include operant condition paradigms i e checking their reaction response via pacifier sucking mobile kicking and head turning habituation paradigms and preferential looking Lecture 4 February 3 How can you conduct experiments with toddlers as participants Because toddlers are more able than infants there are more methodologies paradigms that apply to them Toddler methodologies paradigms include object examining sequential touching grouping categorization object search problem solving and language based tasks Research designs 1 Correlation designs a An examination of the association between two variables in which nothing is manipulated Correlation designs are used for initial research exploration In correlation designs it is possible to see direction of causation problems you cannot tell which variable is the cause which is the effect and third variable problems the correlation may arise from both being influenced by some third variable 2 Experimental designs a In experimental designs a variable is manipulated and the effects results are observed Independent variables are the variables that are manipulated and dependent variables are the variables that are measured Experimental designs are useful because they can infer causality and why relationships exist 3 Cross Sectional a In cross sectional designs children of different ages are compared on a given behavior or characteristic over a short period of time The benefit of cross sectional designs is that it isn t time consuming but the problem is that there can be differential ability amongst people in the same age group 4 Longitudinal a Longitudinal designs are when the same children are studied twice or more over a substantial period of time The benefit of a longitudinal design is that you can watch development take place over a long period of time but because of this it is very time consuming 5 Microgenetic a Microgenetic designs are used to provide an in depth depiction of processes that produce change This design allows you to watch