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Process of Elimination
Posted by:
dcarpenter (IP Logged)
Date: April 21, 2014 01:55PM
Both Jim Munger and Jim Mazerat have discussed using a/the "process of elimination" as opposed to a "negative corpus methodology" in the most recent postings.
I have asked this question more than once without anyone addressing this issue. Can someone provide how this process or methodology is specifically applied to fire investigation?
The outcome seems to be that the "last standing" hypothesis is the final hypothesis. If I accept that premise, then how is this methodology applied? More specifically:
Are all hypotheses "in play" or "ruled in" initially?
Are hypotheses "ruled out" because they have no evidence of for their existence?
That is, how does one come up with hypotheses to begin with? How does one "eliminate" a hypothesis using this methodology?
Douglas J. Carpenter, MScFPE, CFEI, PE, FSFPE
Vice President & Principal Engineer
Combustion Science & Engineering, Inc.
8940 Old Annapolis Road, Suite L
Columbia, MD 21045
(410) 884-3266
(410) 884-3267 (fax)
www.csefire.com