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Re: Back to basics – testing your hypothesis.
Posted by:
dsmith (IP Logged)
Date: January 21, 2007 03:47PM
Peer review is not a method to test a hypothesis. Testing a hypothesis involves either testing/experimentation (to specific conditions and circumstances, e.g. mock-up), or the reliance on previously conducted testing/experiments of others in similar conditions and circumstances.
Peer review, on the other hand, involves the critical analysis of the reasoning and the conclusion - after the hypothesis has been tested - to ensure the methodology (method of reasoning) produces results (the conclusion) that are both valid and reliable.
Valid means the hypothesis being tested has measured what it was intended to measure. Reliable means that given a set of facts, the method of reasoning can be used by different researchers at different times, with similar facts and using the same methodology can be expected to come to the same conclusions.
Peer review is not simply having 2, 4, 8, 10 people read a report and agree with the findings (as many people believe). Peer review is to ensure the conclusions, given a set of facts with a traceable method of logic and reasoning, are supported.
Denny Smith
Kodiak Fire & Safety Consulting
6409 Constitutition Drive
Fort Wayne, Indiana 46814
260.432.6590 - office