Hi Matt, Since this conversation has gotten off to a solid start (but where's Wirt Atmar? I expected to hear more from our resident ex-physicist), I can now reveal more of my thoughts. Specifically, you've come near a very important point. Even natural history requires what may be called hypotheses or assumptions, but these are even more crucial in hypothesis testing. We have to make all kinds of auxiliary hypotheses (things like "I identified these plants correctly" or "these animals move randomly over the landscape") in the course of testing a focal hypothesis. If the prediction derived from this hypothesis fails to come about, we have to figure out which hypothesis to blame. And that's absolutely deadly for falsificationism.
I recommend an excellent essay called "The 'Corroboration' of Theories" by the philosopher Hilary Putnam. (Don't worry about the fact that it's philosophy -- it's actually far more readable than the average ecology paper.) It's not available online, but I'll be happy to send a PDF to anyone who asks. Jane Shevtsov On Tue, Mar 1, 2011 at 8:50 AM, Matt Chew <anek...@gmail.com> wrote: > Ecology without hypotheses has been dismissed (sometimes derided) as natural > history, but even natural history requires one hypothesis. Reporting an > observation requires >0 confidence that an observation is meaningful, can be > communicated, and can be interpreted. There are also tacit hypotheses > inherent in scale, including the duration, extent and complexity of natural > history observations. > > Hypothesis testing is a particularly relevant topic in US ecology at the > moment because choices made in establishing the NEON program involve > numerous hypotheses about ecosystem identity, composition, extent and > location, the relevance of potential instrumentation and particular scales. > However, the term 'hypothesis' is absent from NEON's website ( > http://www.neoninc.org ). Explicit hypothesis testing done under NEON > auspices will be subject to an array of tacit hypotheses, none of which have > been articulated (or, it seems, even considered) by NEON's creators and > promoters. Any supposedly non-hypothetical work conducted under NEON will > face the same challenge. > > Matthew K Chew > Assistant Research Professor > Arizona State University School of Life Sciences > > ASU Center for Biology & Society > PO Box 873301 > Tempe, AZ 85287-3301 USA > Tel 480.965.8422 > Fax 480.965.8330 > mc...@asu.edu or anek...@gmail.com > http://cbs.asu.edu/people/profiles/chew.php > http://asu.academia.edu/MattChew > -- ------------- 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"
