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Methods and Techniques in Ethnobiology and Ethnoecology pp 71–86Cite as

Going Back to Basics: How to Master the Art of Making Scientifically Sound Questions

Part of the Springer Protocols Handbooks book series (SPH)

Abstract

Inspired by the famous quote of Leonardo da Vinci, this chapter builds upon the idea that practice without theory is blind and unpredictable. Indeed, theory without practice can be idle. Accordingly, progress in science is made through approaches that integrate hypothesis testing and falsifiability or that investigate weight of evidence for multiple hypothesis, such as the hypothetico-deductive method (HDM) and Bayesian techniques. Here, we provided a straightforward way to combine the HDM with statistical thinking to create a diagram that links variables by causal links, which can improve the scientific method and statistical literacy.

Key words

  • Hypothetico-deductive method
  • Scientific flowchart
  • Prediction
  • P value

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratório de Ecologia Filogenética e Funcional (ECOFFUN), Departamento de Biologia, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil

    Thiago Gonçalves-Souza

  2. Laboratório de Síntese em Biodiversidade, Setor de Ecologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil

    Diogo B. Provete

  3. Laboratório de Ecologia de Metacomunidades, Instituto Latino-Americano de Ciências da Vida e da Natureza, Universidade Federal da Integração Latino-Americana, Foz do Iguaçu, Paraná, Brazil

    Michel V. Garey

  4. Laboratório de Ecologia Teórica: Integrando Tempo, Biologia e Espaço (LET.IT.BE), Departamento de Ciências Ambientais, Universidade Federal de São Carlos, Sorocaba, São Paulo, Brazil

    Fernando R. da Silva

  5. Laboratório de Ecologia e Evolução de Sistemas Socioecológicos (LEA), Departamento de Botânica, Centro de Biociências, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil

    Ulysses Paulino Albuquerque

Authors
  1. Thiago Gonçalves-Souza
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  2. Diogo B. Provete
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  3. Michel V. Garey
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  4. Fernando R. da Silva
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  5. Ulysses Paulino Albuquerque
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Thiago Gonçalves-Souza .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Botânica, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil

    Ph.D. Ulysses Paulino Albuquerque

  2. Departamento de Sistemática e Ecologia, Universidade Federal da Paraiba, João Pessoa, Paraíba, Brazil

    Ph.D. Reinaldo Farias Paiva de Lucena

  3. Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Católica de Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil

    Ph.D. Luiz Vital Fernandes Cruz da Cunha

  4. Departamento de Biologia, Universidade Estadual da Paraíba, Campina Grande, Brazil

    Rômulo Romeu Nóbrega Alves

Glossary

After Pickett et al. [25].

Assumption

Conditions needed to sustain a hypothesis or build the theory.

Hypothesis

Testable statement derived from or representing various components of a theory.

Mechanism

Direct interaction of a causal relationship that results in a phenomenon.

Pattern

Repeated events, recurring entities or replicated relationships observed in time or space.

Phenomenon

An observable event, entity or relationship.

Prediction

A statement of expectation deduced from the logical structure or derived from the causal structure of a theory.

Process

A subset of phenomena in which events follow one another in time or space, which may or may not be causally connected. It is cause, mechanism or constraint explaining a pattern.

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Gonçalves-Souza, T., Provete, D.B., Garey, M.V., da Silva, F.R., Albuquerque, U.P. (2019). Going Back to Basics: How to Master the Art of Making Scientifically Sound Questions. In: Albuquerque, U., de Lucena, R., Cruz da Cunha, L., Alves, R. (eds) Methods and Techniques in Ethnobiology and Ethnoecology . Springer Protocols Handbooks. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-8919-5_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-8919-5_7

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