Breaking Down the Scientific Method
User Rentiki questions the importance of a single case being published as a paper, which is fair skepticism. My reply:
Its called a case study - it usually the first step to multi-person large breadth studies.
Its a “we encountered X anomaly, which is very i interesting and hopeful, and we arent taking money to get lambos. Plz give funding”
Just the scientific method:
Case 0 (we are effed, ppl die. God will be done)
Case 1 (ooooh) - case study
Case E(mperical, study funding yay - larger chunk of department funding allotted)
Case E+1 Peer review, fellow/sister studies adding proof. Sometimes skipped for major publications which bring experience or reputation, often natural sciences due the existence of logical verification methods.
* For social sciences, we have tests such as ANOVA, Eta^2 and Omega^2 (McDonald’s reliability) - there is an absence of logical verifications here due to systemic constraints, ie: its impossible to do studies with (Inf) participants.
Case N(umerical hypothesis, doctoral work and mire funding for the PhD: hypothesis getting formulated in more rigorous ways, maybe finding roots and improving on older methods, comparing with older methods, or disproving older methods)
Case E+1 -> N+1 (proof or generialized applicability, or enough confidence to unload a vaccine or medicine or new tech onto the population)