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Producing a Robust Body of Data with a Single Technique

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Gregory Stephen Gandenberger
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Abstract

When a technique purports to provide information that is not available to the unaided senses, it is natural to think that the only way to validate that technique is by appealing to a theory of the processes that lead from the object of study to the raw data. In fact, scientists have a variety of strategies for validating their techniques. Those strategies can yield multiple independent arguments that support the validity of the technique. Thus, it is possible to produce a robust body of data with a single technique. I illustrate and support these claims with a historical case study.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 77 , Issue 3 , July 2010 , pp. 381 - 399
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

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