2 ms·

Hard disagree. Having "probable cause" to test a hypothesis is an important part of science. Testing neutral hypotheses is only a recipe for pointless p-hackin

• wombatmobile 6y ago
  In this case, it isn't a neutral hypothesis. Languages exist as part of culture. To extrapolate and assume that these Dutch results will translate into other languages, because languages are translatable and therefore equivalent, is to ignore culture. For the same reason that what you know as "hand waving" is not neutral, the proposition deserves to be investigated rigorously in a way that isolates cultural signals from language, to the extent possible. That's a significant experimental challenge that warrants a scientific objectivity which is compromised by presuming the result. But I may be reading too much into this, because I'm giving a reason why the results might translate. The original researchers don't even give that. They just say they think it will, without giving a reason. That's not science - it is speculation. I'm fine with speculation and opinions. They have their uses and contexts. All I'm saying is that speculation and opinions are not science. The value of science arises precisely from where expectations are upended by experimental data.