LECTURE ONE Definition of Theory theories are constructs or concepts linked together by relational statements and or a set of systematically related generalizations that suggest new observations for empirical testing They are used to explain or predict not describe Online definition an explanation of an event that has been supported by consistent repeated experiment results and has therefore been accepted by most scientist Concepts an abstraction given meaning through theoretical definitions Conceptual definition o Example Depression Conceptual Definition angry sad upset Operational Definition fatigue slouching negative mood crying LECTURE TWO Conceptual and Operational Definition LECTURE THREE Existence Statements identify a These statements concept object and claims its existence Relational Statements Difference These statements provides a relationship between the statements Existence statements just state a fact about the object where relationship between the two relational states a causal Example Example if the object is a college student the college student has a high GPA If the college student has a high GPA then he regularly studies an average of 4 hours per day Relational Statements WORDED ASSOCIATION AND CAUSATION CAN VARY BASE ON HOW A STATEMENT IS Association Causal Relational statements can have either positive negative or no correlations If its a positive correlation the concepts will vary in the same direction whether it be negative or positive example average 4 hours every night will have higher GPA s If its a negative correlation the concepts will vary in different directions so if one people who study on A relationship between one event or action that precedes and initiates a second action influences the direction nature or force of a second action For scientific studies causality must be observable predictable and reproducible Causal relationships hard to prove example if a small work group has an increase in morale it s productivity will improve decreases the other will increase example low turnover in a work environment correlates with high productivity Theoretical Linkage Pertaining to research questions theoretical linkage explains the logic of the questions and justifies asking it pertaining to a hypothesis theoretical linkage explains WHY the concepts ought to be related in the way the hypothesis states they are A HYPOTHESIS PREDICTS THE DIRECTION THE STUDY WILL GO BUT NOT THE RESEARCH QUESTION Gives the theory explanatory power in three ways 1 An Existing Theory 2 Existing Literature 3 A Researcher s Own Logic LECTURE FOUR Two Strategies for Developing a Scientific Body of Knowledge Research Then Theory INDUCTION INDUCTION STARTS IN THE DATA measure all the select a phenomenon and list all characteristics characteristics of the phenomenon in a variety of situations analyze the resulting data to determine if there are any systematic patterns formalization of these patterns as theoretical o almost impossible to define all the variables that might be measured large numbers of laws or empirical generalizations may be discovered o makes broad generalizations from a specific observation s used to form hypotheses and theories because it allows them to apply theories to specific situations even if all the premises are true in a statement inductive reasoning allows for the conclusion to still be FALSE Example Harold is a grandfather Harold s grandfather is bald Therefore all grandfathers are bald the conclusion does not follow logically from the statements this is a form of Theory Then develop an explicit theory Research DEDUCTION Top Down Logic select a statement generated by the theory VALID REASONING an APPROXIMATE answer and makes it difficult to develop and INITIAL theory starts out with a general statement hypothesis and then examines possibilities to reach a specific logical conclusion Five Step Theory Building 1 Ongoing Process of Producing continuously observe 2 Confirming through experiences 3 Applying think about it 4 Adapting understand it 5 Refining Theory act in our worlds LECTURE FIVE Scientific Evidence evidence that pertains to scientific theories and claims empirical claims can be generally more complex and is more dependent on instruments of observations AMBIGUITY can be positive or negative when there is doubt or uncertainty in your evidence Warrants is the logical connection between a claim and a supporting fact A warrant interprets data and shows how it supports your claim It explains why the data proves the claim how warranted a claim is at this time by the evidence possessed by some person or group of people ONE THING MAY WORK NOW BUT MAY NOT IN 50 YEARS Three Types of Warrants DC EXAMPLE 1 Temporal Time Impersonal Conception 50 years from now a man asks you how to get to DC from Gaithersburg The directions you give him might differ as they may have built a new Highway that may get you there faster This proves that warrants can change over TIME 2 Personal One Person Personal Conception After class someone stops and asks you how to get to DC from Gaithersburg Because you ve been there before you are confident in giving them step by step directions 3 Social A Group Social Conception After class you are with a group of your friends and a someone asks you how to get to DC As a group you come together to a mutual agreement on how to get there best way possible If someone in the group is not entirely sure they can rely on those who are more confident to give the man directions JUSTIFIED MUTUAL CONFIDENCE Epistemic Shape with Respect to the Claim DIET PILL LEBRON JAMES EXAMPLE Under belief well warranted but little credence Over belief poorly warranted but much credence For example the recent diet pills taken by Lebron James has been well warranted through the celebrity and other studies that have shown that the pills DO work but despite all of the evidence for this CLAIM you have LITTLE CREDENCE have a hard time accepting this to be true For example being a Redskins fan I have high expectations for my team and I STRONGLY believe that they will win the Superbowl this year But there is little evidence that has shown that the team will do well this year with the team losing 5 out of the first 6 games LECTURE SIX LC3MP and LC4MP LC3MP encoding retrieve information store These three things happen at once which can affect processing efficiency Encoding occurs when we receive a message and try to convert it to a mental representation into our brain