Читать книгу Statistics in Nutrition and Dietetics - Michael Nelson - Страница 25

The Dodecahedron: ‘As long as the answer is right, who cares if the question is wrong?’

The Dodecahedron has clearly lost the plot here. Formulating the question correctly is the key starting point. If the question is wrong, no amount of experimentation or measuring will provide you with an answer.

The purpose of most research is to try and provide evidence in support of a general statement of what one believes to be true. The first step in this process is to establish a hypothesis. A hypothesis is a clear statement of what one believes to be true. The way in which the hypothesis is stated will also have an impact on which measurements are needed. The formulation of a clear hypothesis is the critical first step in the development of research. Even if we can’t make measurements that reflect the truth, the hypothesis should always be a statement of what you believe to be true. Coping with the difference between what the hypothesis says is true and what we can measure is at the heart of research design and statistics.