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How to Think Like a Scientist
Pursue what appears to be a paradox
It will force you to reexamine the full body of evidence with new eyes.
Seeking relevant knowledge in unfamiliar disciplines increases the odds of serendipitous insights and allows novel empirical patterns to emerge.
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Key Ideas
Spot contradictions and novel patterns
Go on cross-disciplinary research expeditions.
By reading and translating the literature in fields outside your own, the full body of evidence surrounding a problem become apparent.
Focus on data and methods
Ignore the author’s conclusions.
When you are doing cross-disciplinary research what really matters is the structure of the full body of evidence rather than any authors’ particular interpretation of their data in one paper, which is often biased.
Don’t rely on fancy statistics
They can obscure the structure of evidence.
Remain skeptical of all statistical and mathematical modeling procedures that pre-process evidence while leaving little trace of its original structure.
Start out close to the data by scrutinizing frequency distributions, means, standard deviations, how variables are actually measured, degree of measurement error, zero-order correlations, and sample composition.
There is no single formula
Be open to have your basic presumptions shattered.
Strategies for solving scientific mysteries:
- pin down why perspectives on them differ and what each has to offer
- try to locate the essential core of available evidence
- not put much stock in any single study or piece of evidence
- watch for recurring patterns in the most reliable data
- think through likely counterarguments
- and look hard for holes in my evidence and logic.
SIMILAR ARTICLES & IDEAS:
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Key Ideas
Treating Failure Like a Scientist
When a scientist runs an experiment, there are all sorts of results that could happen: Some are positive and some are negative, but all of them are data points. Each result is a piece of data that ...
Failure as an indicator of worth
Failure feels like an indication of who we are as a person. Failing a test means you’re not smart enough. Failing to get fit means you’re undesirable. Failing in business means you don’t have what it takes. And so on.
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Statistics Inaccuracies
Most studies that involve statistical research remain largely inaccurate, and a large number of hypotheses use data samples which are inadequate.
Beliefs and Statistics
- Researchers extract a lot of false certainty from data which is used to study a particular hypothesis, due to their myopic thinking, confirmation bias, and other cognitive assumptions that they aren't even aware of.
- Many researchers believe in small samples of data as if they stand for the whole of the population, and this can lead to unpredictable consequences.
The Eye Poster Experiment
It points out our irrational bias and behavior towards our surroundings. How people succumb to irrational beliefs was demonstrated in an experiment at a University Kitchen.
It found out that if there was a poster with eyes put up near the kitchen counter, then people were more likely to pay for the food, subconsciously taking those eyes in the poster as someone looking at them.
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Key Ideas
Systematic approach
Having a systematic approach to how you deal with problems, as opposed to just going by gut and feelings, ca...
Study the problem first
Detectives and investigators use the process. They ask both obvious and unthinkable questions.
Get close and collect information about how the problem is manifesting. Understand where the problem does and doesn’t happen, when the problem started, and how often the problem occurs to generate critical insight for the problem-solving effort.
Question for great answers
- Don’t look for solutions immediately; Keep redefining the problem until you arrive at the root cause.
- Don’t try to guess the solution; try to understand how the obstacles, or challenges manifest first.
- Gather data to analyze all potential root causes.
- Consider all options, regardless of how irrelevant they currently appear.
- Find a way to connect the dots. Make better analogies. One good analogy is worth three hours of discussion.
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