Chapter 3 and 4 - Variables and Measurement

Bedrock issue - variables and measurement

Variable - changeable characteristic

1. Qualitative: different in category or kind or grouping
2. Quantitative: different in amount (how fast, weight, time elapse, measured in numbers, etc.) (a) Continuous (divisible) and (b) Discrete (indivisible)

Constant - non-changeable characteristic

Causation - "Billard ball" effect. Variables cause other variables.

1. Antecedence (Cause A preceeds Effect B)
2. Systematic covariation or Contiguity (Cause is together with the effect in time and space)
3. Eliminate other possible causes (No other way that this cause could have happened)

Do all three experimentally, the best you can, and you have met the empirical science standards and you can explain a phenomenon that will hold up against critics.

IV (cause) -> DV (Effect) when:

1. IV preceeds DV
2. IV and DV are together in time and space
3. Other possible causes are eliminated

Science is philosophical:

1. Science rests on the concept of causality, but causation is a philosophical conception (non-observable). A cause is not observable.
2. Aristotle's 4 causes: (a) material or substance, (b) efficient or sequence of events across time, (c) formal or essence/pattern of something, (d) final or goal/purpose