Explain Context of Justification of Psychological Research?

Justification of Psychological Research.

Whatever the concrete process of justification consist of it presupposes that there is something that has to be justified. Therefore, before the process of justification can begin, the thing to be justified has to be somehow present.

Now, it is plausible that in science, anything that is in need of a justification has to be discovered, it is not simply given. At least, this approach is plausible if discovery is understood in a wide sense that includes invention. Claims in science that are in need of justification typically comprise new hypotheses, new theories, new models with certain properties, new classifications, new forms of representation, or new phenomena.

Scientific Attitudes and Values.

The research into how students attitudes affect their learning of science related subjects has been one of the core areas of interest by science educators. The development in science education records various attempts in measuring attitudes and determining the correlations between behaviour, achievements, career aspirations, gender identity and cultural inclination.

Some researchers noted that attitudes can be learned and teachers can encourage students to like science subjects through persuasion. But some view that attitude is situated in context and has much to do with upbringing and environment. The critical role of attitude is well recognized in advancing science education, in particular designing curriculum and choosing powerful pedagogies and nurturing students.

Objectivity Safeguards.

Objectivity in social research is the principle drawn from positivism that, as far as is possible, researchers should remain distanced from what they study so findings depend on the nature of what was studied rather than on the personality, beliefs and values of the researcher. It consists of procedural safeguards, standardization, operationalization and avoiding of bias.

Procedural safeguards include the right to participate in all meetings, to examine all educational records, and to obtain an Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE) of the child. Parents have the right to written notice when the school proposes to change or refuses to change the identification, evaluation or placement of a child.

Standardization is related with the consistency and objectivity of how tests are administered and scored. In order to compare one person to another on a test, it is important that they take the test under the same conditions and the same scoring procedure is applied to both.

Operationalization is a process of defining the measurement of a phenomenon that is not directly measurable, though its existence is indicated by other phenomena. It is the process of defining a fuzzy concept so as to make the theoretical concept clearly distinguishable and to understand it in terms of empirical observations.