The 2019 Nobel Prize in Economics pays tribute to randomized control trials, but can they really help us fight poverty?
Articles on Scientific method
Displaying 21 - 40 of 93 articles
Researchers rarely collect information that lets them to compare their results with what was believed beforehand. If they did, it could help spot new or important findings more readily.
Across science, only around half of published results can be successfully replicated. But while this is a serious problem, the proposed public audit looks like a political bid to cast doubt on science.
A new study has found a link between being born by caesarean section and having a greater chance of being diagnosed with autism or ADHD. But there’s no evidence caesarean sections cause them.
Some people argue the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, you just need to keep looking. But there are occasions where finding no evidence is all you can do.
Rising evidence shows that many psychology studies don’t stand up to added scrutiny. The problem has many scientists worried – but it could also encourage them to up their game.
Two prestigious journals have suggested abandoning the traditional test of the strength of a study’s results. But a statistician worries that this would make science worse.
What is proof? In both law and science, it’s basically a consensus of experts – but they work at very different speeds. That means juries may reach verdicts on an issue before the science is settled.
An evolutionary biologist makes the case that there’s no reconciling science and religion. In the search for truth, one tests hypotheses while the other relies on faith.
Science is in a reproducibility crisis. This is driven in part by invalid statistical analyses that happen long after the data are collected – the opposite of how things are traditionally done.
A new statistical test lets researchers search for similarities between groups. Could this help keep new important findings out of the file drawer?
Since 2012, more than 120 of Britain’s universities, research institutions and pharmaceutical companies have signed a public pledge committing them to greater openness in their animal research programs.
Once associated with mind-control experiments and counter-cultural defiance, psychedelics now show great promise for mental health treatments and may prompt a re-evaluation of the scientific method.
Machine learning is changing the world in ways that we are just beginning to appreciate. But could it change the way we do science and the reasons why we do science?
There’s peer review – and then there’s peer review. With more knowledge you can dive in a little deeper and make a call about how reliable a science paper really is.
Key areas of focus for tweaking peer review include making journal editors more directive in the process, rewarding reviewers, and improving accountability of editors, reviewers and authors.
From human ‘gills’ to reproducing rock, evidence hasn’t always pointed scientists in the right direction.
Geospatial data offers a powerful new way to see the world. But these high-tech images can be misleading or incomplete.
Recent news reports suggest that the US is experiencing a loneliness epidemic. But the research is a bit more complicated.
Let’s get emotional about science. Not just to celebrate it, but because that’s how to do it properly.
Top contributors
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Senior Lecturer in Philosophy and Education; Curriculum Director, UQ Critical Thinking Project, The University of Queensland
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ARC DECRA Fellow, UNSW
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Associate Professor, ARC Centre of Excellence for Weather of the 21st Century, Monash University
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Professor in Philosophy, Director of the University of Queensland Critical Thinking Project, The University of Queensland
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Professor, School of Biosciences & School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, The University of Melbourne
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Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
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Holcim (US) Professor of Sustainable Enterprise, Ross School of Business, School for Environment & Sustainability, University of Michigan
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University Distinguished Professor and Department Head of Statistics, Texas A&M University
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Professor, School of Psychology, University of Sydney
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Chair, The Conversation Media Group
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Associate Professor of Physics, Union College
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Associate Professor in Astronomy, Monash University
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Laureate Professor of Mathematics, University of Newcastle
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Laureate Professor Emeritus, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity
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Lecturer in Mathematics, Flinders University