Model (IMAGE)

University of Copenhagen - Niels Bohr Institute

Model

Caption

The likelihood of a hypothesis being true or false moves up and down a 'ladder' as more and more experiments on the hypothesis are published. The probability that the scientific community considers the hypothesis to be true can become so high that researchers do not study the hypothesis any further - it will be taken for granted and perceived as a fact. The model shows that you have to publish a certain percentage of negative results (often 20-30 %) in order to ensure that hypotheses that are false do not end up being regarded as facts.

Credit

(Credit: Nissen, NBI and Bergstrom, UW)

Usage Restrictions

(Credit: Nissen, NBI and Bergstrom, UW)

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