Theories and Hypotheses

Theory: A framework or set of rules about an event or process.

• It describes the event or process,
• It explains the event or process
• It can be used to make predictions about when certain events will happen.

Hypothesis: A prediction that can be tested, that’s based on the theory.

Experiments

Definition : In an experiment, researchers change a variable and observe how participants respond on another variable. This tests to see if the two variables are related.

Variable : any characteristic or behavior that can vary (be different from person to person or place to place)

Hypothesis: a prediction based on the theory, or an educated (based on theory) guess (prediction)

Independent variable: variable the experimenter manipulates or changes

Dependent variable: the response the participant in the experiment makes

The experimenter wants to see if the independent variable (IV) affects the dependent variable (DV).

Mean: Average

Median: Middle Number

Mode: Most frequently occurring number

Other Types of Research

Systematic Observation: Carefully observing what happens in the real world, without affecting the behavior of the people you study.

There are 3 types of Systematic Observation:

1. Naturalistic Observation. The behavior is studied where it naturally occurs.

• In nature, with animals. - watch the animals
• In real life, with humans. - watch the people
• It's especially important not to influence the behavior through what you do. - people act differently if they know they're being watched

2. Case studies. Gathering lots of information about a small number of people who are very relevant to your theory.

• Example: if you want to study aggression, you could do case studies of one or two serial killers - find out everything about them

3. Surveys. Asking a large number of people questions about their beliefs or behaviors.

In Systematic Observation, whether it's naturalistic observation, case studies, or surveys, the researcher tries to avoid affecting what the subjects do or say.