Not null enough: pseudo-null hypotheses in community ecology and comparative psychology
Not null enough: pseudo-null hypotheses in community ecology and comparative psychology
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DOI：
10.1007/s10539-018-9640-4
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发表时间：
2018-08-01
影响因子：
2.5
通讯作者：
Halina, Marta
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Bausman, William;Halina, Marta
我们评估了一个共同的推理策略，用于社区生态学和比较心理学之间的竞争假设进行选择。这一策略以简单性为理由将一个假设贴上无效标签，并在认知上赋予它接受的特权，直到被拒绝。我们认为这种策略是不合理的。统计零假设的不对称处理是合理的，通过实验和数学的背景下，他们被使用，但这些背景下，在我们的案例研究中发现的伪零假设的情况下失踪。此外，在实践中，统计空值往往不会在认识上优先于它们的替代品，因为未能拒绝空值通常是关于替代实验假设的负面结果。科学家应该避免诉诸伪空。这是一种修辞策略，以良好的科学和统计方法论的名义掩盖了对简单性的重视超过其他认识美德的承诺。
We evaluate a common reasoning strategy used in community ecology and comparative psychology for selecting between competing hypotheses. This strategy labels one hypothesis as a null on the grounds of its simplicity and epistemically privileges it as accepted until rejected. We argue that this strategy is unjustified. The asymmetrical treatment of statistical null hypotheses is justified through the experimental and mathematical contexts in which they are used, but these contexts are missing in the case of the pseudo-null hypotheses found in our case studies. Moreover, statistical nulls are often not epistemically privileged in practice over their alternatives because failing to reject the null is usually a negative result about the alternative, experimental hypothesis. Scientists should eschew the appeal to pseudo-nulls. It is a rhetorical strategy that glosses over a commitment to valuing simplicity over other epistemic virtues in the name of good scientific and statistical methodology.