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Understanding Objectivity and Replicability in Scientific Research: Psychology View, Exercises of Psychology

Psychology

An insight into the importance of objectivity, empiricism, and replicability in scientific research, specifically in the field of psychology. It explains how these features interlink and why they are crucial for reliable and valid research results. The document also touches upon the concept of theory construction, hypothesis testing, and the role of falsifiability in scientific research.

Typology: Exercises

2021/2022

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Mini research methods study guide summer 2020
Year 13: THE APPLICATION OF SCIENTIFIC METHOD AND THE MAJOR FEATURES OF SCIENCE, IN
PSYCHOLOGY
The major features of science all interlink, and each feature can be referred to in almost any question on the major
features of science.
Empirical methods: Empiricism is the basic approach that scientists adopt to interpret the world. There are different
ways the world can be interpreted or understood. I could, for example, sit in an armchair and interpret the world by
thinking about it. However, would I understand aggression by sitting in an armchair and thinking about it? In order to
really understand and explain the world, I must go out and measure it. Therefore, to know what aggression is really like I
must go and observe and measure it. The act of understanding the world by measuring it is called ‘empiricism’.
Objectivity: All humans have thoughts, feelings, beliefs and opinions. When a Psychologist conducts research there is a
risk that their thoughts etc will influence the data that is collected, or the way that the data is analysed and interpreted.
Scientists try to remove themselves ‘emotionally’ from the research they conduct so that personal bias does not
influence the research. When you try to remove personal bias, it is called being “objective”. When you do not remove
personal bias and allow it to influence the research it is called being “subjective”. The problem with subjectivity is that
you are no longer measuring the real world (what we call empiricism), you have measured the real world interacting
with your personal beliefs that exist inside your head. When you are subjective you are no longer being truly empirical.
When a researcher has been subjective the data they have collected and published becomes unreliable because when
another researcher tries to copy their work (what we call replication) they do not find the same result. Replication of
research and finding the same results again and again is one of the things that makes scientific theories so trustworthy.
Therefore, Psychologists and other scientists need to be as objective as possible to make sure that they are collecting
data from the real world that is not being influenced by personal feelings and beliefs that exist only in the researcher’s
head.
Replicability: When a study is repeated, and the same results have been found, it has been ‘replicated’. In order to
replicate a study, it is important that it is written up clearly enough to allow another researcher to copy the original
piece of research in exactly the same way. If the research is not written down clearly it cannot be tested. If we cannot
test a piece of research, we have to trust it less. As ALL research includes a possibility the results are due to chance (a
fluke outcome), it is important to replicate studies to ensure we have valid (measured what we intended to measure)
Empiricism
Objective Replicable
Theory
construction
Hypothesis
testing
pf3
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Mini research methods study guide summer 2020

Year 13: THE APPLICATION OF SCIENTIFIC METHOD AND THE MAJOR FEATURES OF SCIENCE, IN PSYCHOLOGY The major features of science all interlink, and each feature can be referred to in almost any question on the major features of science. Empirical methods: Empiricism is the basic approach that scientists adopt to interpret the world. There are different ways the world can be interpreted or understood. I could, for example, sit in an armchair and interpret the world by thinking about it. However, would I understand aggression by sitting in an armchair and thinking about it? In order to really understand and explain the world, I must go out and measure it. Therefore, to know what aggression is really like I must go and observe and measure it. The act of understanding the world by measuring it is called ‘empiricism’. Objectivity : All humans have thoughts, feelings, beliefs and opinions. When a Psychologist conducts research there is a risk that their thoughts etc will influence the data that is collected, or the way that the data is analysed and interpreted. Scientists try to remove themselves ‘emotionally’ from the research they conduct so that personal bias does not influence the research. When you try to remove personal bias, it is called being “objective”. When you do not remove personal bias and allow it to influence the research it is called being “subjective”. The problem with subjectivity is that you are no longer measuring the real world (what we call empiricism), you have measured the real world interacting with your personal beliefs that exist inside your head. When you are subjective you are no longer being truly empirical. When a researcher has been subjective the data they have collected and published becomes unreliable because when another researcher tries to copy their work (what we call replication) they do not find the same result. Replication of research and finding the same results again and again is one of the things that makes scientific theories so trustworthy. Therefore, Psychologists and other scientists need to be as objective as possible to make sure that they are collecting data from the real world that is not being influenced by personal feelings and beliefs that exist only in the researcher’s head. Replicability : When a study is repeated, and the same results have been found, it has been ‘replicated’. In order to replicate a study, it is important that it is written up clearly enough to allow another researcher to copy the original piece of research in exactly the same way. If the research is not written down clearly it cannot be tested. If we cannot test a piece of research, we have to trust it less. As ALL research includes a possibility the results are due to chance (a fluke outcome), it is important to replicate studies to ensure we have valid (measured what we intended to measure)

Empiricism

Objective Replicable

Theory

construction

Hypothesis

testing

results. If we repeat a study and find the same results, we can say that the original study has reliability. Replication also forms part of the checks that occurs in science. If another researcher repeats the experiment but cannot find the same results, the scientists around the world would trust the original piece of research much less, as it no longer has ‘replicability’. In psychology there are websites where people place the results of pieces of research they have replicated. If a piece of research cannot be replicated the original researcher will start to get a bad name and not get funding in the future. When data has been collected empirically and objectively it is more likely to be replicable. Theory construction : Part of the scientific method is to construct theories that describes how the world works and then test those theories. For example, the evolutionary theory of attachment is a theory that explains why infants have a drive to form an attachment, the benefits of attachment, and what happens when attachment is lost or does not take place. This is an example of a good scientific theory as it explains the data that has been collected as well as being useful for creating testable hypotheses. Hypotheses and theories are closely linked and these two parts of the scientific method work in parallel. When we have constructed a theory, we use it to make predictions about what will happen. During this process, the researcher will keep creating new hypotheses to test the theory with. Each hypothesis is tested with a new piece of research. If the data collected from the research suggests that the theory is wrong the researcher will, after checking the research is replicable, use the new data to improve or change the theory. Sometimes the theory will be shown to be so wrong that it will need to be discarded and a new theory adopted. Then the new theory is tested to see if it can explain the results of experiments any better than the previous theory. Often there can be several competing theories at the same time, until one of the theories gathers enough research support to become the ‘key’ theory. For example, the evolutionary theory of attachment (EToA) replaced the learning theory of attachment because the EToA had much more research support. It is possible that a fuller and more precise theory may be proposed in the future to replace EToA: only time will tell. Hypothesis testing : A major part of the work of scientists is the creation and testing of hypotheses. Scientists use hypotheses to help created controlled research, where the aims have been carefully stated and the variables carefully controlled. Experiments offer the most control and allow the researcher to control ALL the variables. The IV and DV are carefully operationalized so that the hypotheses can be reliably tested to see which one is true. The process of creating hypotheses most often follows a set procedure. 1 Researcher has an idea after reading previous research (usually everything on a topic that they can find) 2 The researcher formulates an aim and constructs a hypothesis they want to test. 3 The researcher runs a piece of research to test the hypothesis 4 If the research supports the hypothesis they may publish the research to share the knowledge, although they will probably run additional studies to make sure the results are correct. 5 If the results do not support the hypothesis the researcher may run another experiment to find out why, or they may change their hypothesis if it is obvious the original hypothesis was wrong. 6 The process is repeated many times and forms the basis of the scientific method. The hypothesis is more likely to be a success if the data that is collected is empirical and the researcher has been objective. This should mean that the research study will be replicable. If the researcher is able to replicate the results then they will use the result of the test of the hypothesis (a piece of research) to see if a theory is reliable or whether it needs to be changed.

This means that researchers should look for evidence that their theory is wrong, because you only have to find one piece of reliable evidence. You can gather thousands of pieces of evidence that supports your theory but this still does not mean that the theory is 100% correct. Paradigms and paradigm shifts A set of assumptions and beliefs that are shared by researchers and academics within a discipline (e.g. Physics). The shared assumptions are used to explain the world and allow the scientists to share ideas easily. It is a bit like everyone speaking the same language. Thomas Kuhn was the first person to talk about different disciplines having a shared paradigm. He described two phases in the development of knowledge. One he called ‘ normal science ’ where all of the researchers share the same ideas and use these ideas to further their goals. The second phase he called ‘ revolutionary shift ’. This where some scientists start thinking in new ways and reject the old shared paradigm. Paradigm shifts have happened multiple times. Kuhn highlighted that scientific knowledge has not progressed in a smooth way. Instead knowledge tends to move forward in a leap after a period of stagnation. When Copernicus in the 16th century said that the earth was not the centre of the universe he ended a paradigm that had been held true for about 2000 years. Darwin’s theory of evolution was a paradigm shift away from Lamarckian evolution. Kuhn’s theory of paradigm shifts was itself a paradigm shift.