Modifying a Scientific Theory
Instead of immediately discarding a theory after a disconfirmed hypothesis, researchers often use the contradictory evidence to modify it. By adjusting the theory's boundary conditions or addressing unmet assumptions, scientists can adapt the framework so that it successfully accounts for the new observations.
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Research Methods in Psychology - 4th American Edition @ KPU
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Modifying a Scientific Theory
In scientific practice, why might a researcher decide not to immediately abandon a theory after a single hypothesis is disconfirmed?
In psychological research, a theory is not immediately abandoned after a single disconfirmed hypothesis. Match each practical complication with the specific reason it might lead a researcher to retain the theory despite a negative result.
A researcher conducts a study testing a theory of social learning but finds no significant difference between the groups. Upon review, the researcher realizes the 'aggressive behavior' measure was too vague to capture the participants' actions. True or False: In actual scientific practice, the researcher should consider this a measurement flaw and retain the theory for further testing rather than immediately abandoning it.
A researcher finds that their experimental results do not support a prediction derived from a well-established psychological theory. Arrange the following steps in the logical order a researcher would take to systematically analyze this disconfirmation before deciding the fate of the theory.
A researcher finds that their experiment fails to support a core prediction of a well-established psychological theory. According to the principle of 'practical complications of hypothesis disconfirmation,' which of the following integrated research plans represents the most scientifically sound way to respond to this result?
In actual scientific practice, researchers will immediately abandon a psychological theory once a single hypothesis is disconfirmed.
In psychological research, when a scientist chooses to retain a theory after a failed experiment, they are making a critical evaluation that the _____ of the study's results was likely compromised by methodological errors or unmet assumptions.
A psychology department reviews several studies that failed to support their hypotheses. Match each study's scenario to the corresponding practical complication of hypothesis disconfirmation it illustrates.
A researcher fails to support their hypothesis because their study lacked the statistical power to detect a real difference present in the population. In this case, the disconfirmation is the result of a _____.
Arrange the steps a researcher should take to systematically evaluate a disconfirmed hypothesis before deciding whether to modify a theory, starting from the most immediate statistical checks to theoretical revision.
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Abandoning a Scientific Theory
Example of Modifying a Theory
What is a common practice among researchers when a hypothesis is disconfirmed by new evidence, rather than immediately discarding the original theory?
When a hypothesis is disconfirmed by new observations, it is standard scientific practice to immediately discard the underlying theory entirely.
A researcher finds that their data contradicts their theoretical predictions. Match each research scenario with the appropriate strategy for modifying the theory rather than discarding it.
A social psychologist finds that a theory predicting 'people will help less when in a group' (the Bystander Effect) fails to hold true in high-danger emergencies. Arrange the following steps in the logical order the researcher would take to modify the theory to account for this contradictory evidence.
A psychological theory states that 'Visual Feedback improves motor learning by allowing the brain to correct errors in real-time.' However, a new experiment finds that for tasks requiring extremely high speed, visual feedback actually hinders learning because the brain cannot process the images fast enough. Which of the following represents the most scientifically rigorous creation of a modified theoretical framework to account for this contradiction?
Match each term related to the scientific process of theory refinement with its corresponding definition based on how researchers handle disconfirmed hypotheses.
A researcher decides to modify a scientific theory rather than discard it after a hypothesis is disconfirmed. Arrange the steps of the modification process in the correct logical order.
In the scientific evaluation of a theory that has produced a disconfirmed hypothesis, a researcher who judges the core theory to be 'conditionally valid' rather than 'false' is choosing to refine the theory's _____.
If a researcher obtains contradictory evidence and adjusts their framework to state that a previously proposed cognitive effect only occurs under specific, limited circumstances, they are modifying the theory by adjusting its boundary conditions rather than discarding the theory entirely.
When evaluating a study with contradictory findings, a researcher decides not to discard the underlying theory but instead adjusts the framework to account for the fact that a necessary condition was not met in the sample. By doing so, the researcher is adapting the theory by addressing unmet _____.