Methods, Measurement & Scientific Reasoning
What makes a psychological claim convincing?
Psychological science connects observations with claims about minds, behavior and experience. The strength of a claim depends on how concepts are defined, what evidence is gathered, and which assumptions connect that evidence with an interpretation. Theory, measurement, causal design, statistical reasoning, qualitative inquiry and evidence synthesis contribute different tools to that work.
Begin with How to Read Psychological Science for a broad approach to reading arguments and studies. How Do We Know What a Psychological Test Measures? develops the measurement questions, and How Do We Build and Test Psychological Theories? examines how explanations become explicit and answerable to evidence. The aim is to ask sharper questions of a claim and recognize what would change your judgment.
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How to Read Psychological Science
Learn to read psychological claims through conceptual frameworks, research syntheses, and studies spanning measurement, development, biology, culture, and scientific uncertainty.
Introductory · 12 core readings · 6 units · No prerequisites
Begin the syllabus →Additional syllabi
How Do We Know What a Psychological Test Measures?
Examine what makes a psychological measure convincing, from construct definitions and competing accounts of validity to reliability, method effects, and comparisons across groups or time.
Intermediate · 10 readings
How Do We Build and Test Psychological Theories?
A guided path through constructing and testing psychological explanations, with a worked learning model and distinctions between description, prediction, fit and theory.
Intermediate · 8 readings
What Would Justify a Causal Claim?
A guided path through causal questions, assignment, observational assumptions, natural experiments, mechanisms and triangulation.
Intermediate · 9 readings
What Can Statistical Evidence Tell Us?
Learn to interpret effect sizes, intervals, comparisons, power, Bayesian evidence and equivalence without turning a threshold into a verdict.
Intermediate · 8 readings
How Can We Study Change Within People?
Distinguish differences between people from change within a person, then examine sampling, time scales, longitudinal models and single-case interventions.
Intermediate · 8 readings
When Do Psychological Findings Generalize?
Define a finding’s intended reach, examine what was sampled, and judge evidence for extending it across people, materials, tasks and settings.
Intermediate · 8 readings
How Can We Study Experience and Meaning?
Examine research assumptions, interviews, thematic analysis, field evidence and mixed methods to judge how interpretations of experience and meaning are warranted.
Intermediate · 8 readings
How Do We Combine Evidence Across Studies?
Examine how reviews select, combine and interpret evidence, including dependent results, missing studies and qualitative accounts.
Intermediate · 8 readings
How Can Psychological Science Become More Reliable?
Examine replication, prospective commitments, analytic choices, responsible sharing and institutional incentives through arguments, studies and a corrected model.
Intermediate · 10 readings