3 ms·

> The subject has been very qualitative What does this mean?

CGMthrowaway 2mo ago
"Qualitative" means that the field had good conceptual theories, but didn't have sufficient observational and computational resolution to determine the detailed numerical values
- oxzidized 2mo ago
  Well put. And to round out the nomenclature for those that are curious, the corollary here is that it can now become much more quantitative.
NooneAtAll3 2mo ago
quality vs quantity seeing something new vs observing same stuff many many times to do statistics
- smolder 2mo ago
  Interesting that you use the phrase "quality vs quantity". Normally, I think of precision being on the side of "quality". As in, you carefully make a thing to meet a certain standard instead of making a lot of them. In the case of "qualitative vs quantitative", despite having the same roots, I think of precision being on the side of the quantitative --with qualitative work answering yes/no questions and quantitative yielding precise measurements.
  - IAmBroom 2mo ago
    Yes, the latter is what is implied. "Quality" has more than one meaning, and "observed characteristic" is what is meant, not "goodness".
mturmon 2mo ago
People were identifying gross features (like the convection cells in the first website I linked), and giving those features names. Like “sunspots”, “faculae”, “pores”, “granulation”, “bright points”, etc. That’s on the observational side. I’m less informed about simulations in this era - perhaps some simplified MHD simulations had been more quantitative in linking equations of state to the emergence of these features - but I believe they were not realistic enough to provide definite constraints on the scale of the structures. It was clear that these features had to do with energy transport and some of the mechanisms were hypothesized. But the spatial scale of the gross energy transfer in these convective cells was not known, either through simulations or observation.

"Qualitative" means that the field had good conceptual theories, but didn't have sufficient observational and computational resolution to determine the detailed numerical values

oxzidized 2mo ago
Well put. And to round out the nomenclature for those that are curious, the corollary here is that it can now become much more quantitative.

NooneAtAll3 2mo ago

quality vs quantity seeing something new vs observing same stuff many many times to do statistics

smolder 2mo ago
Interesting that you use the phrase "quality vs quantity". Normally, I think of precision being on the side of "quality". As in, you carefully make a thing to meet a certain standard instead of making a lot of them. In the case of "qualitative vs quantitative", despite having the same roots, I think of precision being on the side of the quantitative --with qualitative work answering yes/no questions and quantitative yielding precise measurements.
- IAmBroom 2mo ago
  Yes, the latter is what is implied. "Quality" has more than one meaning, and "observed characteristic" is what is meant, not "goodness".

mturmon 2mo ago

People were identifying gross features (like the convection cells in the first website I linked), and giving those features names. Like “sunspots”, “faculae”, “pores”, “granulation”, “bright points”, etc. That’s on the observational side. I’m less informed about simulations in this era - perhaps some simplified MHD simulations had been more quantitative in linking equations of state to the emergence of these features - but I believe they were not realistic enough to provide definite constraints on the scale of the structures. It was clear that these features had to do with energy transport and some of the mechanisms were hypothesized. But the spatial scale of the gross energy transfer in these convective cells was not known, either through simulations or observation.