Features of Science

• Paradigms and paradigm shifts

  • shared set of assumptions and methods
  • paradigms shift when there is too much contradicting evidence
• Falsifiability

  • possibility of being proven false
  • pseudoscience - can not be falsified
• Replicability

  • findings must be repeated in replicable studies
• Objectivity and the empirical method

  • measurable
  • objectivity is the basis of the empirical method
  • importance of data collection
• Theory construction and hypothesis testing

  • theory - set of general rules or laws
  • theory construction occurs through gathering data
  • theories should suggest a number of different hypotheses that need to be tested