2) Test:
- I would gather information first by asking when they usually goes to bed at night and if there are any reasons why they may not be getting enough sleep before class. I would then test this hypothesis by asking them to go to bed at an earlier time and get at least 8 hours of sleep before going to class the next day, as well as avoid anything that may cause them to stay up late such as drinking coffee, playing video games or going out late at night. A way to make sure that they accomplish this would be to install a sleep tracking app on their phone that analyses their sleep patterns. This would also provide further data and see if they have troubling staying asleep.
- If the student stays home, drinks only water, gets at least 8 hours of sleep the night before class and is able to stay awake, this would support my hypothesis.
- If the student followed all the guidelines and still fell asleep, this would falsify my current hypothesis and would require more research on their health and lifestyle. Or perhaps they're just not a morning person.
3) An example of an untestable, unfalsifiable explanation would be that the student is not human, but a well-nigh perfect robot clone that requires recharging about fifteens minutes after every 6 hours and your class coincides with their next recharge.
Testable Hypothesis (5/5)
ReplyDeleteTest (5/5) - Good, but is it necessary to gather that initial information? Couldn't you just ensure that he slept a full 8-hours? Wouldn't this still test your hypothesis?
Support (5/5) - Okay, but with the inclusion of the water requirement, you are adding a second hypothesis. You need to only test one factor at a time.
Falsify (5/5)
Untestable Hypothesis (5/10) - Keep in mind that "absurd" isn't the same as "untestable". Can't we check to see if he is a robot clone and therefore falsify this hypothesis? Just because you are pretty sure it would be false doesn't you can't actually falsify it, correct? You could hypothesize that he is Batman and spends his nights helping to stop criminals. We could check that by seeing if he even left the house, right? Absurd... but still testable.
I understand your thoughts on the untestable hypothesis. I suppose I thought that by adding that he was a well-nigh perfect robot clone (as in he behaved and functioned as a human aside from needing constant recharging) that this would support it being untestable, but I imagine an x-ray may possibly be enough to confirm his humanity or lack thereof, depending on how advanced his the clone process is. Thank you.
Delete"Untestable" is not limited by our own abilities or limitations. For example, we certainly couldn't put this student on a surgical table and open him up to see if he is biological or robotic. But the fact that this would be a very real way to falsify your hypothesis confirms that this is indeed testable.
Delete"Testable" is a measure of the possibility of testing the hypothesis, not our own personal ability to measure the hypothesis. We have limits. That doesn't mean those can be applied to the hypothesis as being the limits of the hypothesis. They are two different things.
Ahh, I see. I understand the concept better now. Thanks for the explanation!
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