Intro to Scientific Reasoning Consumers and Producers may become a research producer you all become research consumers FC facilitated communication help ppl with disabilities communicate usually a mental disability bad research Red Study different colors affect different emotions good research Four Scientific Cycles their theories 1 Theory Data cycle when scientists collect data to test change or update Laptop example stop working how to fix it collect data etc Harlows Monkey why are babies so connected to their mothers Contact comfort do babies love their mothers because they feed them or because they comfort them Data supported contact comfort theory 2 Basic Applied Research Cycle basic research research whose goal is to enhance the general body of knowledge without regard for direct application to practical problems applied research research whose goal is to find a solution to a particular real world problem 3 Peer review cycle scientific articles are peer reviewed before being published gate keepers of research very rigorous and difficult to get published 4 Journal to journalism cycle After publishing paper in scientific journal research will sometimes be published in popular press Benefits Risks Can be beneficial but need two elements Is the Study important choose sensational findings instead of important findings don t always choose peer reviewed research Is the study accurate Journalists don t always understand details of research will present inaccurate findings that readers assume are correct Example Mozart effect Two goals can overlap and influence each other Red Study Start with basic and then apply translation research What makes a good theory 1 supported by data 2 falsifiable theory needs to lead to predictions that could prove to be wrong and thus challenge the theory itself a Freud cannot truly measure the id ego or superego so one cannot 3 Parsimonious Occams razor if two theories explain data equally well test these concepts opt for the simpler theory Not about proving something true Can support or be consistent with current theory Look at weight of evidence not a single study Ex parents happiness Theory VS Hypothesis Theory a statement that describes general principles about how variables relate to one another Hypothesis states specific outcomes that the researcher expects to observe if the theory is accurate One theory can lead to many hypotheses Data set of observations