Dear Manuel, Thanks for your reply! I'll have to look up the books you recommended.
On Mon, Feb 28, 2011 at 7:49 AM, Manuel Spínola <mspinol...@gmail.com> wrote: > Is necessary to distinguish between statistical and scientific hypothesis. > Statistical hypotheses is about patterns, scientific hypotheses are about > process (they are based on "why" or "how"). > > My experience on this topic tells me that most ecologists do not know the > difference between the 2 kind of hypothesis. I agree. The fact that the two are conflated so often is why I decided to ask about them together. > Falsification is the contribution of Karl Popper to the Hypothetic-Deductive > method. It has nothing to do with statistics or statistical hypothesis. > > The hypothetic-deductive method has been considered as "the scientific > method", however not many people know how it works. The hypothetic-deductive > method is inductive and not deductive like the > namesuggest. Now that's an interesting comment. Popper went out of his way to avoid induction. In fact, he actually claimed that it doesn't exist in science! Why do you say that the hypothetico-deductive method is actually inductive? Best, Jane > On 27/02/2011 11:44 p.m., Jane Shevtsov wrote: > > Fellow Ecologgers, > > Lately, I've been thinking a lot about the role of hypothesis testing > (both the statistical and falsificationist varieties) in biology in > general and ecology in particular. Before saying anything, I want to > ask the forum a few questions. > 1. What do you think of the current emphasis on hypothesis-driven > research? Does it help you do better science? Is it crowding out other > approaches? > 2. Have you ever had a grant proposal or publication declined because > of an absent or unclear hypothesis? > 3. Have you ever recommended that someone else's grant proposal or > publication be declined for that reason? Was it the main reason? > > I look forward to hearing what people have to say. > > Jane Shevtsov > > > > -- > Manuel Spínola, Ph.D. > Instituto Internacional en Conservación y Manejo de Vida Silvestre > Universidad Nacional > Apartado 1350-3000 > Heredia > COSTA RICA > mspin...@una.ac.cr > mspinol...@gmail.com > Teléfono: (506) 2277-3598 > Fax: (506) 2237-7036 > Personal website: Lobito de río > Institutional website: ICOMVIS -- ------------- Jane Shevtsov Ecology Ph.D. candidate, University of Georgia co-founder, <www.worldbeyondborders.org> Check out my blog, <http://perceivingwholes.blogspot.com>Perceiving Wholes "In the long run, education intended to produce a molecular geneticist, a systems ecologist, or an immunologist is inferior, both for the individual and for society, than that intended to produce a broadly educated person who has also written a dissertation." --John Janovy, Jr., "On Becoming a Biologist"
