it appears to me that we are having the same kinds of discussions on this
topic as usual .... and we go round and round ... and where we stop depends
on when people get tired of it
is progress being made? i wonder ...
perhaps some of this time would be better spent defining more what a
hypothesis is within the general area of doing research ... FORGET ABOUT
STATISTICS FOR A MOMENT ... then, if we agree that there are times ...
within the framework of trying to better understand phenomena ... that it
is helpful perhaps vital for us to formulate AND test (gather data about)
one or more researchable hypotheses
then we might get a better handle on
1. what the hypothesis is
2. what is a frameable version(s) of that hypothesis
3. what are some data handling (statistical?) ways of trying to collect and
present evidence that will shed some light on how tenable or reasonable it
is to keep that hypothesis as a work in progress ... or
to decide to abandon it and search for better hypotheses or notions or
explanations of phenomena
we need to recognize however that
1. truth will not be found by this method ... that is, the absolute truth
2. our efforts at best will move us only closer to better understandings of
phenomena ..
3. no matter what we find ... we always have to take it with a huge grain
of salt ...
finally, i WOULD LIKE to offer some summary points that do seem sensible to me
A. the reliance on ... and dominance of ... traditional 'significance'
testing ... in almost all of printed scientific literature ... across most
disciplines ... is TOTALLY out of whack in terms of what this 'method' can
tell us about phenomena
B. the failure of statisticians in general, particularly those (me
included) who TEACH students about this stuff, to build into their psyches
'priors', in some form, as herman and others have been preaching ... is
tantamount to unethical statistical instructional practice
and C.
if we do A and don't do B ... we do a tremendous disservice to students we
work with
now, how we reinvent our strategies ... is difficult INdeed ... but, we
must try
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