What is Scientific Research 1 10 14 Scientific Literacy is The knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts and processes required for Personal decision making e g health Participation in civic and cultural affairs e g censorship Economic productivity e g quality control When a person can ask find or determine answers to questions derived from curiosity about everyday experiences Let s Test Your Scientific Literacy Scientists usually expect an experiment to turn out a certain way Science proves facts true in a way that is definitive and final Scientific theories are explanations and not facts When being scientific one must have faith only in what is justified by empirical evidence Science is just about the facts not human interpretations of them To be scientific one must conduct experiments TRUE FALSE TRUE TRUE FALSE FALSE Scientific Literacy In The U S Ways of Knowing Also known as Epistemology the science of knowing Some everyday way of knowing Tradition and Tenacity Authority Intuition and Logic Tradition Tenacity Something is true because it is commonly held to be true E g You eat turkey for Thanksgiving A Taurus is a stubborn person Once a view is accepted as the usual it is accepted tenaciously we re unwilling to change our beliefs even in face of strong contradictory evidence E g The earth is flat Authority Someone who should know said so Dr makes diagnosis Mechanic examines your car Efficient But what if s he is wrong biased or not really an expert Intuition Logic Correct information surfaces through two types of reasoning Common sense then Platonic idealism Rigorous logic and reasoning e g if a b and b c Problems with Everyday Ways of Knowing Filters impact how we process information False premises illogical reasoning Selective observation expectations Everyday ways of knowing can even lead to conflicting ideas about truth E g Effect of Long Distance Relationships Absense makes the heart grow fonder OR out of sign out of mind The Scientific Method Combines logic with empiricism Logic is used to construct happens Theories related sets of ideas that explain how or why something Hypotheses tentative educated guesses or propositions about the relationship between two or more variables Empiricism involves scientific methods based on observations or experience vs theory Unique Characteristics of Science How is science different from the everyday ways of knowing Scientific research is public o Peer reviewed published replicable Science is empirical o Multiple planned deliberate observations Science is systematic Science is objective o Systematic procedures tested measures Science is cumulative heuristic o Adds to existing knowledge base o Ultimate objective is to raise new questions o Lead scientists to future studies findings o Requires researcher to minimize personal bias and distortion Who are these scientists Not just in lab Live In communities Affected by society Have a stake Culture shapes how we think Shapes the research we decide to do Interaction of Culture and Science Societal Problems Scientific Research Energy crisis alternative energy exploration Cancer deaths medical research Rise in teen pregnancy effects of sex in media The Government s Role Funding decisions are driven by public concern for certain issues Smoking and cancer Opinions on climate change Scientific research is expensive institutions e g CDC NSF Moral of The Story Scientists tend to research what they can get funding for often from govt Be wary of those who say science is completely objective Biases enter in researcher interest funding how questions are asked interpretation of findings BUT to address this science has checks and balances objective process On public record peer reviewed Follows systematic procedures Subject to replication thousands of studies The 4 Goals of Research 1 Describing behavior How often do teenagers bully on Facebook 2 Determining causes of behavior Does gender determine amount of Facebook bullying 3 Predicting behavior Experiment to test whether computer mediated vs face to face interaction increases bullying 4 Explaining behavior Survey examining if teens who report bullying on Facebook often also feel peer pressure to do so Goals of Scientific Research Science CANNOT settle questions of morality Is Obamacare intrinsically good At what age should children be allowed to join the workforce Should doctors persuade parents to test a fetus for Down s Syndrome Communication Research Methods Qualitative Research in which the researcher is the primary data collector E g interviews focus groups discussion boards Quantitative Research that relies on numerical measurement E g surveys experiments systematic content analysis The Research Process 1 15 14 01 18 2014 Researcher as Detective Searching for evidence to answer questions Do video games make teens violent Does watching baby Einstein make infants smarter The Research Process Select topic Focus questions Design study Collect data Analyze data Interpret data Inform other THEORY IN THE MIDDLE OF IT ALL The Wheel of Science Research revolves around THEORY attitudes behavior So what makes a theory strong Qualities of a good theory an attempt to describe predict or explain some aspect of social life Which theory is falsifiable Why Theory A all human live forever o Falsifiable by observing one death Theory B no human lives forever the claim Impossible 1 Consistent with available information 2 Helpful in prediction some outcome o Falsifiable would have to observe a human living forever for falsify 3 Has heuristic value generates research or more theory 4 Parsimonious provides the least complex explanation for an observation 5 Falsifiable it is hypothetically possible for a test of an observation to show that It must be possible to make an observation that would show the o The theory all swans are white would be falsified by observing the theory is wrong Synonymous with testable theory proposition to be false For example just one black swan The Wheel of Science Research is necessary to validate and develop Deductive Reasoning theory presumes what will result Researcher verifies those claims Generally used in quantitative research Example banduras social learning theory children learn behaviors through observation Inductive Reasoning Researcher gathers data and makes observations Leads to empirical generalization s from cases Then develops theory based on patterns that merge Generally used in qualitative research The Research