Advantages of the Hypothesis
This chapter makes the case for the scientific hypothesis from two quite different points of view: statistical and cognitive. The consideration of statistical advantages picks up from the discussion of the Reproducibility Crisis in the previous chapter. First, it explores reasoning that shows that hypothesis-based research will, as a general rule, be much more reliable than, for example, open-ended gene searches. It also revives a procedure, Fisher’s Method for Combining Results that, though rarely used nowadays, underscores the strengths of multiple testing of hypotheses. Second, the chapter goes into many cognitive advantages of hypothesis-based research that exist because the human mind is inherently and continually at work trying to understand the world. The hypothesis is a natural way of channeling this drive into science. It is also a powerful organizational tool that serves as a blueprint for investigations and helps organize scientific thinking and communications.