Title text:
If you think curiosity without rigor is bad, you should see rigor without curiosity.
Transcript:
[Miss Lenhart is standing in front of a whiteboard with some scribbles on it.]
Miss Lenhart: I'm supposed to give you the tools to do good science.[Miss Lenhart is now standing in front of Jill and Cueball, who are seated at classroom desks.]
Miss Lenhart: But what are those tools?
Miss Lenhart: Methodology is hard and there are so many ways to get incorrect results.
Miss Lenhart: What is the magic ingredient that makes for good science?[Miss Lenhart headshot.]
Miss Lenhart: To figure it out, I ran a regression with all the factors people say are important:
[A list, presented in a sub-panel that Miss Lenhart is pointing to:]
Outcome variable:
- correct scientific results
Predictors:
- collaboration
- skepticism of others' claims
- questioning your own beliefs
- trying to falsify hypotheses
- checking citations
- statistical rigor
- blinded analysis
- financial disclosure
- open data
[presumably the list goes on, as it runs off the visible part of the panel][Another Miss Lenhart headshot.]
Miss Lenhart: The regression says two ingredients are the most crucial:
- genuine curiosity about the answer to a question, and
- ammonium hydroxide
[Miss Lenhart, standing, and Jill, seated at desk]
Jill: Wait, why did ammonia score so high? How did it even get on the list?
Miss Lenhart: ...and now you're doing good science!
Source: https://xkcd.com/3101/
