Features of science

• Paradigm


  A set of shared assumptions and agreed methods within a scientific discipline
• Paradigm Shift


  The result of scientific revolution where there is a significant change in the dominant unifying theory within a scientific discipline
• Objectivity

  All sources of personal bias are minimised to not distort or influence the research process
• Empirical Method


  Scientific approaches that are based on the gathering of evidence through direct observation and experience
• Replicability


  The extent to which scientific procedures and findings can be repeated by other researchers
• Falsifiability


  The principle that a theory cannot be considered scientific unless it admits the possibility of being proved false
• Paradigms and paradigms shifts

  • Kuhn suggests that what distinguishes scientific disciplines from non-scientific disciplines is a shared set of assumptions and methods
  • Psychology is best seen as a pre-science as it lacks a universally accepted paradigm
  • Psychology has too much internal disagreement and too many conflicting approaches
• Theory construction and hypothesis testing

  • Theory is a set of general laws or principles that have the ability to explain particular events or behaviours
  • Theory construction is gathering evidence through direct observation
  • Theories should be scientifically tested and should suggest a number of possible hypotheses
  • They should be tested using systematic and objective methods
• Falsifiability origins

  • Popper argued that a theory should be falsifiable and that genuine scientific theories should hold themselves up for hypothesis testing and possibility of being proven false
  • When a scientific principle had been successfully repeated it is not necessarily true it just hasn't been proved false yet
  • This is why alternative hypothesis must always be accompanied by a null hypothesis as it allows to falsify the hypothesis
• Replicability origins

  • Findings should be repeated across a different number of contexts and circumstances
  • Replication has an important role in determining the validity of a finding as by repeating the study we can see if findings can be generalised
• Objectivity and empirical method

  • Researchers must not let personal biases ruin the data
  • Lab experiments that have control are objective
  • Empirical method is emphasising the importance of data collection based on direct sensory experience
  • The experimental method and observational method are examples