features of science

• paradigm is an agreed set of assumptions and methods within scientific discipline. thomas khun argued social sciences need an agreed paradigm
• paradigm shift is a significant change in dominant unifying theory within a scientific discipline brought by new findings and understanding. occurs when scientific revolution, researchers question original paradigm and there is too much contradictory evidence to ignore
• objectivity is minimising all sources of personal bias by keeping critical distance to reduce influence on the research
• theory is a set of general laws and principles that can explain particular events and behaviours
• theory construction is gathering evidence via direct observation e.g capacity short term memory 7+/-2 through a series of experiments
• hypothesis testing predictions are tested empirically to provide evidence to support a theory or to refute it through scientific testing using systematic and objective methods. if refuted theory may need to be revised or revisited and the process of deriving new hypothesis via deduction
• deduction is the process of devising new hypothesis from existing theory
• falsifiability is the principle that a theory cannot be considered scientific unless it admits to the possibility of being proven untrue. theories who survive most attempts or the strongest. if the theory cannot be test such as psychodynamic it is unfalsifiable as cannot test unconcious but can be labelled as pseudoscientific as it has some scientific aims but cannot be tested
• replicability is the extent to which scientific procedures and findings can be repeated through standardised procedures. it should be achieved by being repeated across different contexts and circumstances which plays a role in determining validity
• empirical method is the scientific process of gathering evidence through direct observation and experience. theory cannot claim to be scientific unless it has been empirically tested and verified