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Philosophy Home > SR Home > Explanatory Criteria |
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Philosophy 203: Scientific Reasoning The Method of Evaluating Scientific Explanations is briefly outlined
for the following example taken from K.
Schmidt, "Fickle fields; EMFs and epidemiology, Science News (November
9, 1991), 357. Evaluating Scientific Explanations Hypothesis: H1 -- Strength, fluctuation, and direction of electromagnetic fields are associated with cancer. Relevance:
OK If H1 is true, then C
[children living in LA near power lines will have higher cancer rates]. Difficulty: could be accidental correlation. Testability Compatibility with Previous
Hypothesis: OK Savitz (NC) Denver study. Difficulty: uncontrolled variables Predictive or Explanatory Power:
OK Extend testing to other appliances emitting electromagnetic fields Difficulty: data inconsistent. Simplicity:
OK Possibility of excluding other factors: diet, education, location, and so forth. Difficulty: no simple concomitant variation or method of agreement or joint methods. |
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