Below is a statement often used in our society, please read it.

There has been an increase in the number of elementary school children diagnosed with attention deficit disorder.

1. Based on your observation and experience, formulate a theory to explain this finding.

2. Read about theory in the textbook. Evaluate your theory according to the two characteristics of a "good" theory listed below.

A. Logical consistency is the basic building block of any theory. It refers to a theory's ability to "make sense". Is it logical? Is it internally consistent? A theory's scope refers to its range, or ranges, of explanations. Does it explain crimes committed by males AND females? Does it explain ALL crimes or just property crime? Does it explain the crime committed by ALL ages or just juveniles? Better theories will have a wider scope or a larger range of explanation.

B. A parsimonious theory is concise, elegant, and simple. There are not too many constructs or hypotheses. Simply put, parsimony refers to a theory's "simplicity". A good scientific theory needs to be testable too. It must be open to possible falsification. "Every genuine testof a theory is an attempt to falsify it or to refute it. Testability is falsifiability; but there are degrees of testability: some theories are more testable, more exposed to refutation than others; they take, as it were, greater risks...One can sum up all this by saying thatthe criterion of the scientific status of a theory is its falsifiability, or refutability, or testability"

3. State a research question and a hypothesis based on your theory?

4. How can your theory be tested?

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