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Informationen zum Autor Robert W. Proctor is Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychological Science at Purdue University at West Lafayette. He has been teaching and conducting research in the field of attention and human performance for nearly 30 years. His publications include Attention: Theory and Practice (with Addie Johnson, 2003) and Skill Acquisition and Human Performance (with Addie Johnson, 1995). E. J. Capaldi is Distinguished Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychological Science at Purdue University. Dr. Capaldi is a leading researcher in the field of learning and memory. He is the co-author of numerous articles and contributor to books such as The Blackwell Handbook to Research Methods of Experimental Psychology. Klappentext Why Science Matters: Understanding the Methods of Psychological Research rises above standard research methods texts by presenting an up-to-date view of contemporary psychological science as it is currently understood and practiced. Unlike available methodology texts, this book explores not only the procedural aspects of psychological research, but also delves into the issue of how to accomplish effective science. Intended as a supplement for undergraduate and graduate research methodology study, the text provides additional training on contemporary scientific methodology and its historical antecedents. Incorporating new investigatory procedures, current methodologists, conflicts, and issues, implications of the philosophy of science, and a lively prose style, Why Science Matters provides a picture of science that will engage students and expand their abilities as both scientists and psychologists. Zusammenfassung * Explores not only the procedural aspects of psychological research! but also delves into the issue of how to accomplish effective science. * Explicates how hypotheses and theories are to be evaluated. * Suggests that the proper approach to devising and evaluating theories is by abduction! not by induction or deduction alone. Inhaltsverzeichnis Preface for Instructors viii Preface for Students x Part 1: Major Methodological Changes in Science from Antiquity to the Present 1 Chapter 1: Understanding Science: The Armchair versus Practice 3 Introduction 3 Justification of methodological practices 4 Precursors to contemporary science: an historical overview 8 Research paradigms, programs, and traditions 14 Naturalism: a brief introduction 16 Remainder of book 18 Chapter summary 19 Chapter 2: Major Issues to Emerge in 20th Century Approaches to Science 20 Introduction 20 Logical positivism 21 Operationism 26 Popper's falsificationism 27 Kuhn's psychologism and historicism 33 Chapter summary 38 Chapter 3: Methodology in the Postpositivist Era 39 Introduction 39 Naturalism in science 41 Lakatos's sophisticated falsificationism 43 Laudan's research traditions and normative naturalism 46 Giere's cognitive approach 49 The rise of relativism 51 Chapter summary 54 Part 2: Naturalism and Modern Science 55 Chapter 4: Theory Testing 57 Introduction 57 Scientific theory 58 Types of theory 60 Hypothesis testing 63 Induction and deduction 70 Abduction and theory construction 72 Chapter summary 78 Chapter 5: Inference to the Best Explanation 79 Introduction 79 Evaluating theories: a critical evaluation of criteria 81 Resolution of ambiguity over time 83 Natural selection 85 Brain function and cognitive neuroscience 89 Consilience 92 Chapter summary 95 Chapter 6: The New Means of Understanding Science 96 ...
