3 ms·
I am an ex-scientist and I can confirm that scientists frequently say this. Normally it's what you say after you read a paper from your competitor. Realistica
by dekhn 3y ago
I am an ex-scientist and I can confirm that scientists frequently say this. Normally it's what you say after you read a paper from your competitor.
Realistically, almost no modern research demonstrates causation; nearly all work is associational, ideally with a prepdonderance of supporting evidence and no counter-evidence (which merely means it hasn't been falsified. Now falsified- that's a work scientists rarely if ever use).
- TheCoelacanth 3y agoIt depends a lot on the field. In fields where you can ethically and cost effectively set up controlled experiments, demonstrating causation is pretty common. In fields where you can't, it's rare.
- dekhn 3y agoI worked in biophysics with molecules and I don't think we considered even our most carefully run experiments as demonstrating causation. Even in physics nearly everything is presented as a probabilistic claim.