Monthly Archives: January 2015

Structuralism & Functionalism

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In the last post, we spoke of the work of Wilhelm Wundt and his groundbreaking work in psychology. One of Wundt’s students was Edward Titchener (1867-1927). Titchener is remembered for bringing Wundt’s ideas to America and for his significant role in the development of the school of structuralism in psychology.

Structuralism

Structuralism is the study of the structure of the mind. Adherents to this school of thought believe that the mind is made up of associations of ideas and that understanding the mind means breaking down these relationships into ideas.

To break down these ideas, Titchener used a form of self-analysis called introspection. An example of this is showing participants a picture of a table. The participant would not say it is a table but would rather describe the table such as its color, shape, size, etc. These descriptions of the table were the ideas associated with it.

This approach to experimental research was groundbreaking during its time but had problems. It was difficult for people to ignore the literal meaning of the images they say. Structuralists also struggle with explaining the meaning behind the associations they found. As such, this approach fell out of use.

Functionalism

Around the same time as Titchener functionalism was developed. Functionalism is people’s mental processes and behavior helps them to adapt to their environment. This school of thought was most heavily supported by William James (1842-1910).

The functionalist view was influenced by Darwin’s ideas of evolution. They focused specifically on the mind’s adaptability for survival. As such, this school of thought was a product of its times.

Functionalism focused on seeing the mind as a whole rather than in the discrete parts that structuralist used. For them, the mind and body worked together. Therefore, introspection was not popular with functionalist as it divided up the processes of the human mind. While structuralist were inwardly focused functionalists were outwardly focused.

The decline of functionalism was due to its lack of focus. Since it was a holistic view, it was hard to see what they were focusing on in regards to the mind. Any school of thought the studies everything eventually leads to understanding nothing.

Conclusion

Structuralism and functionalism were two of the earliest schools of thought in psychology. In many ways, these two approaches were complete opposites of each other. These two extremes laid the groundwork for many major schools of psychology to come.

The Psychological Study of Learning: The Beginning

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The study of learning is relatively recent. This post will look at the birth of psychology and how the pioneers of this field laid the foundation for the study of learning.

Wilhelm Wundt

The first laboratory to focus on the study of psychology was opened by Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) in Germany in 1879. Wundt’s goal was simple, to establish psychology as a legitimate science. At this time, psychology was seen by many as something akin to fortune telling and other black arts.

Wundt’s laboratory quickly became a meeting place for the top minds in this field. He started a journal to report psychological research and encouraged the shift from thinking about psychology ti performing experiments. This shift from rationalism to empiricism was a major change in psychology. Psychological studies were now investigated through controlled stimuli and responses.

Wundt, and his team of researchers investigated the perceptions, feelings, attention, and emotions of people. He was also a mentor to many psychologists who opened laboratories in the United States. Despite all if his pioneering work, Wundt’s laboratory never made any major discoveries in the field of psychology. A sad destiny of many great teachers.

Hermann Ebbinghaus

Another major player in the early days of psychology was another German named Hermann Ebbinhaus (1850-1909). Ebbinghaus played an important role in establishing the experimental method. Again this is surprising to us in this day and age but experimenting was not established until work in such fields as psychology.

Ebbinghaus research focused on memory. He believed that learning happens through repeated exposure to whatever a person was trying to learn. He provided data through conducting memory experiments on himself. Naturally, such experiments led to questions of the validity of his studies. Nevertheless, his work was the first to look at memorizing in this way. However, Ebbinghaus results were later justified by the use of experimental methods.

The Impact

Our understanding of learning today would be stunted if not for the work of these to mentwoTheir major contribution is in establishing experiments as a legitimate way of collecting data in psychology. Today, this is one of the primary vehicles of data collection.

To this day, psychologist study the memory, perceptions, and feeling of individuals in due to the work of these men. Learning would not be defined the way it is if it were not for the work of these German gentlemen from the 19th century.

Action Research Part II

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In the last post, we began a discussion on action research. This post will conclude our look at action research. In this post, we will look at the following concepts

  • Steps in action research
  • Pros and Cons of action research

Steps in Action Research

How to approach action research is highly variable. Often action research will include research questions, the gathering of data, data analysis, and the development of an action plan

Identify the Research Question(s)

Action research is about answering questions. These questions can be used in many ways for example.

  • To ask about information needed to make decisions
  • To ask questions about how well something is doing
  • To ask questions about what people think or feel

The types of questions are endless. For further information on asking questions in research please click here.

Data Collection

All standard forms of methodology are appropriate for action research. Survey, correlational, experimental, and more can all be used. With action research, the approach is often simplified because it is not the rigor but results that are important.

However, there are several forms of data collection that are extremely popular in action research. Observation, interviewing, and document analysis are some of the most common forms of data collection in action research.

The goal is always to try and triangulate whatever information is being collected. The type of collection method depends on what the research question is.

Data Analysis

Data analysis includes the same methods as other forms of research. The difference being that action research is much less complex in the approaches taken to analyze data. The primary goal is to create an accurate picture of whatever is under investigation.

Development of Action Plan

This final step depends on the original purpose of the study. If the purpose of the action research was to gather data to make a decision. The actual decisions that are made will be represented in an action plan. The action plan is a document that specifies the changes that will take place based on the findings of the study.

If the purpose of the action research was to assess how well something is working or to see which method is best or some other question, a plan may not be the final result. For example, if a teacher wants to see if lecture or discussion is better for the academic progress of students the results would indicate which is most appropriate. The teacher may not need to develop a plan for this but just be sure to include more or less lecture/discussion in their teaching.

Pros and Cons of Action Research

Pros

Action Research can be done by any teacher. The simplicity of action research allows anyone to do it. Results do not need to meet the rigors of publication. The results of teacher-led action research is improved classroom teaching

Action research improves educational practices. With data, schools can make plans to improve performance. Otherwise, schools are left to guess what to do. Problems are identified systematically at the school and even classroom level.

Cons

There is always a lack of validity with action research. The results only apply to the local context and generalization is often difficult. The sample size is often small with the population and sample being the same.

Conclusion

Action research is for strengthening classroom practice. The goal is not necessarily to write and publish but rather to empower local decision making and assist stakeholders directly.

Having said this, action research is an accepted form of research worthy of publication if it is conducted in a systematic fashion. The results may not generalize but they still can provide insights for other practitioners in the field.

Action Research Part 1

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Action research is a topic that is spoken of a great deal in education and even other fields. However, this term is often used without people knowing exactly what action research is. Therefore, in this post, we will look at the following about action research.

  • What action research is.
  • Types of action research
  • Levels of participation in action research

Defining Action Research

Action research is research performed for the purpose of solving local problems or obtaining local information to make local decisions. This is important. According to this definition, action research does at least two things

  1. Solves a local problem through research
  2. Provides local data through research to make a local decision

In addition, two unique characteristics of action research is a local of generalizability or external validity, and lack of use of rigorous research approaches.

Action researchers are only concern with dealing with local problems in the local context. Therefore it is often difficult to try to apply the local approaches broadly. For example, the sample and the population in action research are often the same. This rarely happens in larger research projects. This means that excellent action research needs to be replicated in several contexts before it is generalizable.

Action research follows any of the most common research methodologies but not at the same level of mastery. Action researchers are normally practitioners in their respective field and not necessarily thoroughly trained scholar-researchers. The purpose of this research is to solve a local problem and not develop dense theories defendable theories.

Action Research Types

There are at least two types of action research. They are practical action research and participatory action research.

Practical action research involves dealing with a local problem by providing solutions to improve short-term performance and or provide information for making decisions. One result of this type of action research is an action plan which is plan that is developed based on research for the purpose of change

Participatory action research is the same as practical action research in that it deals with local problems and provides solutions or data. The main difference between these two forms of action research is philosophical. Participatory action research focuses on empowering individuals and bringing social change through research.

Participatory action research is about the participation of as many stakeholders as possible in the research process. This is one reason why participatory action research is referred to as collaborative research

Levels of Participation

Some believe that there are nine levels of participation in action research. Rarely, does one individual participate in all nine levels in a particular project. The table below provides the nine levels, with a description of what happens at that level, as well as who commonly participates at that level. Please keep in mind that this is not the steps of an action research project but a map of how people participate.

Level Participation Who Participates
9 Initiates a study Administrators, teachers, parents
8 Helps with developing research problems Administrators, teachers, parents
7 Designing the project Administrators, teachers, parents
6 Interpretation of results Administrators, teachers, parents
5 Review results Administrators, teachers, parents
4 Data collection Administrators, teachers, parents
3 Receive findings Administrators, teachers, parents, students
2 Know purpose of study Administrators, teachers, parents, students
1 Provide information for the study Administrators, teachers, parents, students

From the table, it shows that adults can participate at all levels in action research. Students normally do not participate beyond level 3 with exceptions being as they grow older such as high school and university students.

Conclusion

Action research is about change. Looking at a local issue and developing local solutions and or information for developing a local plan of action is the focus of action research. For this reason, action research skills are an important tool for people in the field.

Indirect Instruction

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Indirect instruction is a teaching approach that uses inquiry and encourages higher order thinking skills in an environment that encourage problem-solving and or project based learning. Indirect instruction is based on the philosophy of constructivism, which states that people derive meaning from their own experiences.

There are many different strategies that fall under the category of indirect instruction. The main characteristic of indirect instruction is that the teacher is not directly leading and teaching the students. Instead, the students are developing comprehension of the text among themselves. Some common strategies include.

  • Advanced Organizers
  • Student self-evaluation
  • Group discussion

Advanced Organizers

Advanced organizers provide a visual of whatever a teacher is trying to explain. The visual helps the students to organize and process the information they are seeing. Advanced organizers are indirectly explaining content through the visual they provide.

Below is an example of an advanced organizer. This chart is about various time periods in music. The visual divides the content into three eras (Baroque, Classical, and Romantic). Underneath each era is a prominent composer of that era (Bach, Mozart, and Listz). Students would see this information while the teacher is discussing it. By doing this, the visual reinforces the verbal information the student heard and strengthens retention.

Student Self-Evaluation

Another way that students can learn is through providing them with the opportunity to review their performance on a particular task. Self-evaluation allows the student to assess how well they perform on a particular assignment or assessment. As the student judges their own progress, they learn what they are doing well at as well as where they need to improve. The teacher role is to provide hints as to what may be some of the student’s problems.

Self-evaluation can take one of many forms. For example, students can complete a rubric. The rubric provides a criterion by which the student can assess their performance. Another option is the use of a reflective journal. The journals help the students to consider their thoughts and feelings as they were participating in an activity or completing an assignment. The primary goal is to get the student thinking about how they are doing.

Group Discussion

Group discussion is an experience of several students coming together to share views on a concept or idea with or without the guidance of the teacher.The goals of group discussion are to understand a concept, engage the students, develop communication, and contribute to deeper thinking processes. The teacher, if they are participating, serves as a facilitator who provides a conducive environment for discussion as well as contributing to the discussion.

Group discussion allows students to think out loud and share their comments in the moment. This experience also allows for students to challenge one another and develop critical thinking skills. It is safe to say that most classes should have some form of discussion at one time or another. Such opportunities for verbal expression are important for the students to learn in a form other than the direct instruction of the teacher.

Conclusion

Indirect instruction is a method of teaching that allows the students to develop an understanding of the text with minimal leadership from the teacher. The methods here are just the tip of the iceberg in this form of instruction.

Assessing Learning

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Assessment is focused on determining a students’ progress as related to academics. In this post, we will examine several types of assessment common in education today. The types we will look at are

  • direct observation
  • Written responses
  • Oral responses
  • Rating by others

Direct Observation

Direct observation are instances in which a teacher watches a student to see if learning has occurred. For example, a parent that has instructed a child in how

to tie their shoe will watch the child doing this. When successful, as observed, the parent is assured that learning has occurred. If the child is not successful the parent knows to provide some form of intervention, such as reteaching, to help the child to have success.

Problems with direct observation include the issue of only being able to focus on what is seen. There is no way of knowing what is going on in the child’s mind. Another challenge is that just because the behavior is not observed does not mean that no learning has happened. Students can understand, at times, with being able to perform.

Written Response

Written response is the assessing of a student’s response in writing. These can take the form of test quizzes, homework, and more. The teacher reads the student’s response and determines if there is adequate evidence to indicate that learning has happened. Appropriate answers indicate evidence of learning

In terms of problems, written responses can be a problem for students who lack writing skills. This is especially true for ESL students. In addition, writing takes substantial thinking skills that some students may not possess.

Oral Responses

Oral responses involve a student responding verbally to a question or sharing their opinion. Again issues with language can be a barrier along with difficulties with expressing and articulating one’s opinion. Culturally, mean parts of the world do not encourage students to express themselves verbally. This puts some students at a disadvantage when this form of assessment is employed.

For teachers leading a discussion, it is often critical that they develop methods for rephrasing student comments as well as strategies for developing thinking skills through the use of questions.

Rating by Others

Rating by others can involve teachers, parents, administrators, peers, etc. These individuals assess the performance of a student and provide feedback. The advantages of this include having multiple perspectives on students progress. Every individual has their own biases but when several people assess such threats to validity are reduced.

Problems with rating by others includes finding people who have the time to come and watch a particular student. Another issue is training the raters to assess appropriately. As such, though this is an excellent method, it is often difficult to use.

Conclusion

The tools mentioned in this post are intended to help people new to teaching to see different options in assessment. When assessing students, multiple approaches are often the best. The provide a fuller picture of what the student can do. Therefore, when looking to assess students consider several different approaches to verify that learning has occurred.

Ancient Philosophies and Education

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In research related to education and learning theories, there are two major philosophies that influence almost the entire field of education. The name of these two philosophies are rationalism and empiricism. In this post, we will take a closer look at each of these philosophies and their impact on education.

Rationalism

Rationalism is a form of epistemology that states that knowledge grows from the process of reasoning without reliance on the senses. In this philosophy, there is a strong distinction between knowledge acquired by the senses and by reason. According to Plato, a major proponent of this philosophy, things a.k.a matter are revealed by the senses. Ideas, on the other hand, are revealed by reasoning. This reasoning process is a systematic reflection upon the ideas of the world, which leads to further ideas being developed.

Rene Descartes was a French philosopher of the 17th century. He extended the work of Plato by stating that the primary difference between man and beast was the former’s ability to reason. For Descartes, the external world was mechanical. In many ways, this idea paved the way for naturalism and materialism of the 19th century.

In summary, rationalism is focused upon the development of the mind through thinking processes. This philosophy is at the heart of such learning theories that related specifically to information processing. Rationalism has also influence educational philosophies such as perennialism and to a lesser extent essentialism.

Empiricism

On the opposite end of the spectrum of epistemology is empiricism. Empiricism states that experience through the senses is the only source of knowledge. Aristotle was the developer of this position. He stated that ideas cannot exist independent of the external world. It is the information one gathers not from thinking but from one’s senses that leads to knowledge.

This idea was taken a step further by John Locke in the 17th century. Locke is famous for proposing what he called the tabla rasa. This was a phrase for stating that a person is born a blank slate. As the grow and take in information through the senses does the person acquire ideas about their environment and self.

Empiricism is one of the dominating philosophies of modern time. The scientific method, various learning theories on associational learning, and educational philosophies focused on experiential learning are based on empiricism.

Conclusion

More could be said about these two philosophies. The point that is being made is that they have had a strong influence on education. Most major debates in education share positions stated by one of these philosophies. When people speak of critical thinking and the development of the mind they are pulling concepts from rationalism. When people speak of job skills and hands on training they are deriving arguments from empiricism. In reality, a combination of both will lead to well-rounded individuals.

Defining Learning

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The goal of most teachers is that their students learn in the classroom. However, a question to ask is what does it mean to learn? Another question to consider is how can we tell when a student has learned something?

It is not easy to answer these questions. Despite the challenge, there are several different criteria that can be considered to determine if a student has learned something. Three ways to see learning includes the following

  • Learning involves some form of change
  • Learning is something that endures over time
  • Learning occurs through experience

Learning and Change

The first criterion for defining learning is that it brings change. In other words, a student goes from acting or performing one way to another. For example, I child who cannot ride a bike eventually learns to ride the bike. The student moves from inability to ability and this is one example of learning. The actual process of acquiring the skill is not always clear but the outcome is clear. This criterion is for those who see learning as a behavioral process.

Learning Endures Over Time

When a student learns something the change should endure. How long is not always agreed upon and forgetting happens as well. Despite this, people who learn often remember what they learned for more than a few fleeting moments. Returning to our bicycle example, many people remember this skill for their entire lives. Even those who forget, they are able to quickly relearn the skill with some practice. In general, something that is learned is something that lasts.

Learning Happens through Experience

A common saying is that life is the best teacher. It is through experience and not theory that learning often occurs. For our bicycle example, the student did not listen to a lecture on riding bikes but went out there and rode a bike. It is through practice and observation that learning can also occur. The trials of life lead to reflection that modifies behavior in a way that is beneficial.

Conclusion 

Learning involves change, time, and experience. These criteria helps people to make sense of the world and acquire new abilities. There is more to learning than just these three components. Whatever else is necessary, these components will apply in many situations in which learning occurs.

Developing Research Questions for Quantitative Studies

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Research questions in the empirical process set the stage for an entire study. For this reason, it is critically important that the research questions of any study are worded in a way that allows a researcher to answer the questions clearly and succinctly. In this post, we will look at general guidelines for forming research questions as well as look at three common formats that are used when making research questions.

General Guidelines

Below are some common traits of research questions in quantitative studies. Naturally, this list is not exhaustive.

  • With sounding redundant, research questions pose a question. This is in contrast to hypotheses which make a statement.
  • Common first words in research questions are “how,” “why,” or “what.”
  • Indicate what are the independent, dependent, and if necessary the mediating and intervening variables.
  • It is important to also include the participants and location of a study in the question(s)
  • Lastly, common verbs used in research question(s) include describe, compare, and relate

The last bullet in the list above is of particular importance because it leads into the next section.

Types of Questions

There are at least three types of research questions in quantitative studies and the are

  • descriptive questions
  • comparison questions
  • relationship questions

Descriptive Questions

Descriptive questions identify a participants response to a question/variable. One possible template of a descriptive question is below. The underlined portion needs to be completed for each study. The template is followed by an example.

TEMPLATE
How often do (participants) (variable) at (research location)?

EXAMPLE
How often do students exercise at the university level?

EXPLANATION
In this question the participants are students, the variable is the amount of exercise, and the research location is university level. Descriptive questions strictly describe a variable. Higher level inferences is not a part of this approach. If you look carefully you will notice there is no independent or dependent variable because we are not looking for any relationship. There is only a variable that we describe.

Comparison Questions

Comparison questions seek to understand if two groups are different on one or more dependent variables. We will modify the previous example on exercise and students for this question. The underlined portion needs to be completed for each study. The template is followed by an example.

TEMPLATE
How are/is (group 1) different from (group 2) in terms of (dependent variable) for (participants) at (research location)?

EXAMPLE
How are men different from women in terms of exercise amount for students at university?

EXPLANATION
The groups are men and women, the dependent variable is the amount of exercise, participants are students, and the research location is university. This type of question only points out the difference but does not explain. For an explanation, we need to use relationship questions as described next.

Relationship Questions

Relationship questions try to answer the question of the strength of a relationship between two or more variables. One possible template of a relationship question is below. The underlined portion needs to be completed for each study. The template is followed by an example.

TEMPLATE
How does (independent variable) relate to/influence (dependent variable) for (participants) at (research location)?

EXAMPLE
How does exercise influence GPA for students at the university level?

EXPLANATION
In this question the independent variable is exercise, the dependent variable is GPA, the participants are students, and the research location is a university. The goal is to see the strength of the relationship. This information can be used to explain exercises influence on GPA or to predict potential GPAs of students based on the amount of exercise they get or vice versa.

Conclusion

Good questions lead to good answers. This is one reason why research questions matter so much. They must be clearly set forth at the beginning of any study. The examples above are not the only way to approach this. However, they do provide a starting point for those who are new to research.

Tips for Writing Quantitative Purpose Statements

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There are several equally acceptable ways to write purpose statements for quantitative studies. This post will share some suggestion for getting started

Ideas for Writing Quantitative Purpose Statements

A well-written quantitative purpose statement contains the following elements

  • identified variables
  • the relationship among the variables
  • the participants
  • the site of the research

Here is an example

The purpose of this study is to determine the strength of the relationship between height to weight among undergrad students in Thailand.

Here is a breakdown of the elements of the purpose statement above.

  • identified variables [Height and Weight]
  • the relationship among the variables [Height is the independent variable weight is the dependent variable]
  • the participants [undergrad students]
  • the site of the research [Thailand]

Here are some additional tips

  • Try to write purpose statements in one sentence
  • Start with the phrase “the purpose of this study” it’s a clue to readers
  • Specify all variables in the study such as independent, dependent, mediating etc.
  • The order variables are introduced is the following
    1. Independent
    2. Dependent
    3. Mediating or control
  • Variables are used for relationships between two or more, compare groups, or description
  • If you are testing a theory, comparing groups, or describing something, state this in the purpose statement

Below is an example, the characteristics of a purpose statement are underlined and in parentheses.

The purpose of this study is to test the theory of planned behavior (the theory) by relating social support (independent variable)  to college intention  to dropout (independent variable)  for undergrad students (participants) in Thailand (research site)

Comparison is another common form of research. Below is a purpose statement that focuses on comparing groups. the characteristics of a purpose statement are underlined and in parentheses.

The purpose of this study music choice(independent variable) of classical (group 1), contemporary (group 2),  and no music(group 3) in terms of its influence on academic performance (dependent variable) for undergrad students (participants) in Thailand (research site)

In the above example, music choice is the independent variable that is hypothesized to influence academic performance. Three types of treatment are employed classical, contemporary, and no music. The goal is to see if there is a difference in the means of academic performance at the completion of the study.

Conclusion

Purpose statements for quantitative studies are important as they lay the foundation for a study. A good statement tells a reader what to expect for the rest of the study. For this reason, researchers need to be careful and think of the purpose statement with care.

Developing Theories in Research

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Theories in quantitative research serve the purpose of explaining and predicting the influence of the independent variable(s) on the dependent variable(s). Theories provide researchers with an understanding of the various relationships that are found in research. For example, let’s say a researcher finds a relationship between exercise and income. The researcher finds that as exercise increases so do salary. The relationship is found in many different contexts. It is found among men, women, Africans, Asians, various college majors, etc. Since the relationship holds steady across several different contexts and environments it is considered a theory. It is the general applicability of a theory that makes it strong.

The testing of a theory is one of the most rigorous forms of quantitative research. However, the development of theory does not start there. There are many different ways to develop theories. In this post, we will look at four common ways to develop a theory, which are…

  1. Gut-feeling
  2. Theoretical reason
  3. Conceptual framework
  4. Theory testing

Gut-Feeling

Sometimes a researcher has a gut-feeling that there is a relationship between two variables. For example, going back to the example of the link between exercise and income, a researcher may notice that his most fit friends also makes the most money. He has a gut feeling that exercise can predict income. This is an unsophisticated approach but it is a beginning for exploring a potential theory. However, the application of this initial research is highly limited because the motivation to study is from just the experience of one individual.

Theoretical Reason

A theoretical reason is a logical conclusion by another scholar that a researcher uses as support for the development of their own theory. In our exercise example, let’s say that another scholar finds that students who exercise perform better academically than students who do not. This leads to a reasonable conclusion that exercise may affect income as well. Our theory is not only a hunch now but based on the scholarly contribution of another person’s work. This allows the conclusion of our study to have a wider application because it not only based on our own observation.

Conceptual Framework

A conceptual framework is a collection of several others who have come to similar conclusions about a particular relationship. Instead of just one author, let’s say that ten authors made the conclusion that exercise impacts grades. Our questions are slightly different. Does the link found between exercise and grades hold when we look at exercise and income?  The results of this study have an even larger application because more people are involved in the development of this potential relationship.

Theory Testing

Theory testing is just what it says, it is the testing of theory. After we complete our study on exercise and income, several other people replicate the student in various context. The study is done in different cultures, nations, regions, ethnicities, etc. After several reasonable replications, our theory about exercise and income is considered a theory.

Conclusion

Developing a theory is not an easy task. It entails a detailed process that involves a lot of oversight and scrutiny. The benefit of a theory is that it takes a phenomenon in the world and explain the cause and effect of it in simple language for other to use as needed. These explanations help us to make sense of our complex world in succinct sentences and paragraphs. This is why we need more theories because we do not understand everything about the world.