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evidence—but the hypothesis survives and may even be strengthened by test and
refinement in the face of doubt. But equally often a hypothesis is false, in which case
clinging to it is a waste of time. Persist for long enough to establish whether or not
it is likely to be true, but to persist longer is foolish.
A corollary is that the stronger your intuitive liking for a hypothesis, the more
rigorously you should test it—that is, attempt to confirm it or disprove it—rather
than twist results, and yourself, defending it.
Be persuasive. Using research into the properties of an algorithm as an example,
issues such as the following need to be addressed.
Will the reader believe that the algorithm is new?
Only if the researcher does a careful literature review, and fully explores and
explains previous relevant work. Doing so includes giving credit to significant
advances, and not overrating work where the contribution is small.
Will the reader believe that the algorithm is sensible?
It had better be explained carefully. Potential problems should be identified, and
either conceded—with an explanation, for example, of why the algorithm is not
universally applicable—or dismissed through some cogent argument.
Are the experiments convincing?
If the code isn't good enough to be made publicly available, is it because there
is something wrong with it? Has the right data been used? Has enough data been
used?
Every research program suggests its own skeptical questions. Such questioning is
also appropriate later in a research program, where it gives the author an opportunity
to make a critical assessment of the work.
Forms of Evidence
A paper can be viewed as an assembly of evidence and supporting explanations;
that is, as an attempt to persuade others to share your conclusions. Good science
uses objective evidence to achieve aims such as to persuade readers to make more
informed decisions and to deepen their understanding of problems and solutions. In
a write-up you pose a question or hypothesis, then present evidence to support your
case. The evidence needs to be convincing because the processes of science rely on
readers being critical and skeptical; there is no reason for a reader to be interested in
work that is inconclusive.
There are, broadly speaking, four kinds of evidence that can be used to support a
hypothesis: proof, modelling, simulation, and experiment.
Proof
. An proof is a formal argument that a hypothesis is correct (or wrong). It
is a mistake to suppose that the correctness of a proof is absolute—confidence in a
proof may be high, but that does not guarantee that it is free from error; it is common
