https://workyoucanexplain.com/tags/scientific-method/ Recent content in Scientific Method on Work You Can Explain Hugo en-US Copyright © Work You Can Explain Tue, 08 Sep 2026 00:00:00 -0500 https://workyoucanexplain.com/posts/compare-studies-before-calling-them-contradictory/ Tue, 08 Sep 2026 00:00:00 -0500 https://workyoucanexplain.com/posts/compare-studies-before-calling-them-contradictory/ <p>Before describing two studies as contradictory, check whether they examined the same question under comparable conditions. Compare the participants, intervention or exposure, comparison group, outcome, and timing. A difference in any of these may change what the results mean.</p> <p>Your outcome is a short synthesis: where the studies agree, where they differ, and what remains unresolved. You do not need to force a winner.</p> <h2 id="state-the-question-both-studies-would-need-to-answer">State the question both studies would need to answer</h2> <p>“Does this study method work?” hides several questions. Does it help immediate recall, retention after a delay, transfer to an unfamiliar problem, or confidence? Compared with what activity, and for whom?</p> https://workyoucanexplain.com/posts/test-ai-generated-claims-with-the-scientific-method/ Sun, 26 Jul 2026 00:00:00 -0500 https://workyoucanexplain.com/posts/test-ai-generated-claims-with-the-scientific-method/ <p>An AI-generated claim becomes useful knowledge only after the evidence supports it. Turn the claim into a testable statement, make its assumptions explicit, decide what observation could contradict it, and choose an independent check appropriate to the decision.</p> <p>The goal is not to prove that an AI system is generally reliable or unreliable. The goal is to reach a bounded conclusion about one material claim.</p> <h2 id="begin-with-the-decision">Begin with the decision</h2> <p>Verification effort should match the consequence of being wrong.</p> https://workyoucanexplain.com/posts/debugging-is-a-scientific-process/ Fri, 24 Jul 2026 00:00:00 -0500 https://workyoucanexplain.com/posts/debugging-is-a-scientific-process/ <p>Debugging is controlled inquiry. Reproduce the failure, reduce irrelevant variables, form a falsifiable hypothesis, run one informative experiment, and verify the fix against both the failure and normal behavior.</p> <p>Random edits produce activity but weak evidence.</p> <h2 id="reproduce">Reproduce</h2> <p>Record the starting state:</p> <ul> <li>exact input;</li> <li>environment and relevant versions;</li> <li>current directory and command;</li> <li>expected behavior;</li> <li>actual behavior; and</li> <li>complete error text.</li> </ul> <p>Run it again. If the failure is intermittent, record frequency and conditions rather than calling it reproducible.</p>