Klarinet Archive - Posting 000204.txt from 2001/12

From: "Mark Charette" <charette@-----.org>
Subj: RE: [kl] scientists on the list
Date: Sat, 8 Dec 2001 23:37:13 -0500

> From: GrabnerWG@-----.com]
>
> Jumping from the observation (cocobolo sounds better) to the
> theory (material made the difference) is a huge leap ... of
> faith, not science.>>
>
> Why is that, Mark? If all other factors are the same?

Because there's a number of defined steps in between, and inductive
reasoning leads to probabilities of "truth" and can easily be unsound.

> *************************************************
>
> OK...here goes....Walter's scientific method....
>
> *************************************************
>
> Here's my hypothesis.
>
> The material that a barrel is made of makes a difference in tone quality.
>
> Experiment: Make several barrels, of various materials, using
> exactly the same methods, tools, and dimensions. Where the only
> variable is the material.
>
> Play results to a selected panel of critics, behind a screen,
> keeping all other variables the same (same reed, mouthpiece, player, etc.)
>
> Observe and evaluate results.
>
> Would that then be science? Or do I need to use sine waves and
> overtone graphs?

Walter, that's what many people consider to be a "scientific method" ... but
it isn't, and it ain't science (just try and keep things down to one
variable - that's going to take you a while!). There's a formal methodology
that isn't so easy ... even if you have tongue firmly implanted in cheek.
The "scientific method" using reasoning (deductive & inductive) is difficult
and costly - but it ultimately results in sound reasoning from sound
premises. Even then it may be wrong. I spent a significant amount of my
education and professional life learning how to be suspicious of results -
because things are seldom as they seem.

One of the reasons that most scientific literature is peer-reviewed is to
determine the accuracy of the premises and the elimination of variables
which might otherwise taint the results - and in many cases years after the
publication of the literature the results are still being debated.

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