Hierarchy of hypotheses or cascade of predictions? A comment on Heger et al. (2013)

Autores
Farji Brener, Alejandro Gustavo; Amador Vargas, Sabrina
Año de publicación
2014
Idioma
inglés
Tipo de recurso
artículo
Estado
versión publicada
Descripción
The only way to test hypotheses is by evaluating their consequences. Since a hypothesis is an explanation of how nature works, it can be tested through the formulation of outcomes expected assuming the proposed hypothesis is true, and contrasting those predictions with the obtained results. Therefore, hypothesis and predictions are intrinsically different concepts. Hypotheses are ideas; predictions are expected results. Predictions are deduced from hypotheses, but it is unlikely to deduce a hypothesis from a prediction. Regardless of these conceptual differences, ecologists often formulate predictions but erroneously state them as hypothesis (Farji-Brener 2003). We believe that this is the case in the work of Heger et al. (2013). Here, we point out the confusion between hypotheses and predictions, highlight the importance of an adequate use of these terms, and propose the hierarchy-of-expected outcomes approach as an alternative to the hierarchy-of-hypotheses approach.
Fil: Farji Brener, Alejandro Gustavo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigación en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Centro Regional Universitario Bariloche. Laboratorio de Ecotono; Argentina
Fil: Amador Vargas, Sabrina. University of Texas at Austin; Estados Unidos
Materia
Hypothesis
Hiothetic-Inductive Method
Nivel de accesibilidad
acceso abierto
Condiciones de uso
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/
Repositorio
CONICET Digital (CONICET)
Institución
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
OAI Identificador
oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/11733

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spelling Hierarchy of hypotheses or cascade of predictions? A comment on Heger et al. (2013)Farji Brener, Alejandro GustavoAmador Vargas, SabrinaHypothesisHiothetic-Inductive Methodhttps://purl.org/becyt/ford/1.6https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1The only way to test hypotheses is by evaluating their consequences. Since a hypothesis is an explanation of how nature works, it can be tested through the formulation of outcomes expected assuming the proposed hypothesis is true, and contrasting those predictions with the obtained results. Therefore, hypothesis and predictions are intrinsically different concepts. Hypotheses are ideas; predictions are expected results. Predictions are deduced from hypotheses, but it is unlikely to deduce a hypothesis from a prediction. Regardless of these conceptual differences, ecologists often formulate predictions but erroneously state them as hypothesis (Farji-Brener 2003). We believe that this is the case in the work of Heger et al. (2013). Here, we point out the confusion between hypotheses and predictions, highlight the importance of an adequate use of these terms, and propose the hierarchy-of-expected outcomes approach as an alternative to the hierarchy-of-hypotheses approach.Fil: Farji Brener, Alejandro Gustavo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigación en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Centro Regional Universitario Bariloche. Laboratorio de Ecotono; ArgentinaFil: Amador Vargas, Sabrina. University of Texas at Austin; Estados UnidosRoyal Swedish Acad Sciences2014-12info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionhttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501info:ar-repo/semantics/articuloapplication/pdfapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/11336/11733Farji Brener, Alejandro Gustavo; Amador Vargas, Sabrina; Hierarchy of hypotheses or cascade of predictions? A comment on Heger et al. (2013); Royal Swedish Acad Sciences; Ambio; 43; 8; 12-2014; 1112-11140044-7447enginfo:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/url/https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4235899/info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/url/http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs13280-014-0549-0info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1007/s13280-014-0549-0info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/reponame:CONICET Digital (CONICET)instname:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas2025-09-29T10:47:34Zoai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/11733instacron:CONICETInstitucionalhttp://ri.conicet.gov.ar/Organismo científico-tecnológicoNo correspondehttp://ri.conicet.gov.ar/oai/requestdasensio@conicet.gov.ar; lcarlino@conicet.gov.arArgentinaNo correspondeNo correspondeNo correspondeopendoar:34982025-09-29 10:47:34.443CONICET Digital (CONICET) - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicasfalse
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Hierarchy of hypotheses or cascade of predictions? A comment on Heger et al. (2013)
title Hierarchy of hypotheses or cascade of predictions? A comment on Heger et al. (2013)
spellingShingle Hierarchy of hypotheses or cascade of predictions? A comment on Heger et al. (2013)
Farji Brener, Alejandro Gustavo
Hypothesis
Hiothetic-Inductive Method
title_short Hierarchy of hypotheses or cascade of predictions? A comment on Heger et al. (2013)
title_full Hierarchy of hypotheses or cascade of predictions? A comment on Heger et al. (2013)
title_fullStr Hierarchy of hypotheses or cascade of predictions? A comment on Heger et al. (2013)
title_full_unstemmed Hierarchy of hypotheses or cascade of predictions? A comment on Heger et al. (2013)
title_sort Hierarchy of hypotheses or cascade of predictions? A comment on Heger et al. (2013)
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Farji Brener, Alejandro Gustavo
Amador Vargas, Sabrina
author Farji Brener, Alejandro Gustavo
author_facet Farji Brener, Alejandro Gustavo
Amador Vargas, Sabrina
author_role author
author2 Amador Vargas, Sabrina
author2_role author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Hypothesis
Hiothetic-Inductive Method
topic Hypothesis
Hiothetic-Inductive Method
purl_subject.fl_str_mv https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1.6
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1
dc.description.none.fl_txt_mv The only way to test hypotheses is by evaluating their consequences. Since a hypothesis is an explanation of how nature works, it can be tested through the formulation of outcomes expected assuming the proposed hypothesis is true, and contrasting those predictions with the obtained results. Therefore, hypothesis and predictions are intrinsically different concepts. Hypotheses are ideas; predictions are expected results. Predictions are deduced from hypotheses, but it is unlikely to deduce a hypothesis from a prediction. Regardless of these conceptual differences, ecologists often formulate predictions but erroneously state them as hypothesis (Farji-Brener 2003). We believe that this is the case in the work of Heger et al. (2013). Here, we point out the confusion between hypotheses and predictions, highlight the importance of an adequate use of these terms, and propose the hierarchy-of-expected outcomes approach as an alternative to the hierarchy-of-hypotheses approach.
Fil: Farji Brener, Alejandro Gustavo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigación en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Centro Regional Universitario Bariloche. Laboratorio de Ecotono; Argentina
Fil: Amador Vargas, Sabrina. University of Texas at Austin; Estados Unidos
description The only way to test hypotheses is by evaluating their consequences. Since a hypothesis is an explanation of how nature works, it can be tested through the formulation of outcomes expected assuming the proposed hypothesis is true, and contrasting those predictions with the obtained results. Therefore, hypothesis and predictions are intrinsically different concepts. Hypotheses are ideas; predictions are expected results. Predictions are deduced from hypotheses, but it is unlikely to deduce a hypothesis from a prediction. Regardless of these conceptual differences, ecologists often formulate predictions but erroneously state them as hypothesis (Farji-Brener 2003). We believe that this is the case in the work of Heger et al. (2013). Here, we point out the confusion between hypotheses and predictions, highlight the importance of an adequate use of these terms, and propose the hierarchy-of-expected outcomes approach as an alternative to the hierarchy-of-hypotheses approach.
publishDate 2014
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2014-12
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
info:ar-repo/semantics/articulo
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/11336/11733
Farji Brener, Alejandro Gustavo; Amador Vargas, Sabrina; Hierarchy of hypotheses or cascade of predictions? A comment on Heger et al. (2013); Royal Swedish Acad Sciences; Ambio; 43; 8; 12-2014; 1112-1114
0044-7447
url http://hdl.handle.net/11336/11733
identifier_str_mv Farji Brener, Alejandro Gustavo; Amador Vargas, Sabrina; Hierarchy of hypotheses or cascade of predictions? A comment on Heger et al. (2013); Royal Swedish Acad Sciences; Ambio; 43; 8; 12-2014; 1112-1114
0044-7447
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv eng
language eng
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/url/https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4235899/
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/url/http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs13280-014-0549-0
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1007/s13280-014-0549-0
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Royal Swedish Acad Sciences
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Royal Swedish Acad Sciences
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:CONICET Digital (CONICET)
instname:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
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collection CONICET Digital (CONICET)
instname_str Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
repository.name.fl_str_mv CONICET Digital (CONICET) - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
repository.mail.fl_str_mv dasensio@conicet.gov.ar; lcarlino@conicet.gov.ar
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