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Originally Posted by CraigS
Incorrect !
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Come of the grass, Craig, now you're starting to sound facetious. And more like those guys over at T'bolts.
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Originally Posted by CraigS
Or you also know that it will expose flaws in nonsense logic !
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No, I don't back them up with the maths because the maths themselves are not applicable to the question at hand because of its subjectivity.
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Originally Posted by CraigS
That depends on exactly what, and how, it is worded.
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No, the wording has nothing exactly to do with it at all. If the question is subjective to begin with and you don't have all of the facts to prove or disprove it otherwise, you will always end up with an incomplete and subjective answer (as a matter of consequence). If the question is objective, and you don't have all the facts, and/or your maths is initially based on a priori assumptions, then your answer will be subjective also.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CraigS
I can make a conclusion that:
"further research is required, as this particular research has returned a null result, in the context of the initial objectives".
.. and this could easily be an objective conclusion.
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However, there is no null result in this case. A null result would require that no definitive answer, either way, was forthcoming. Which in this case would mean the heading of this thread should've read "We don't know the probability of life existing elsewhere in the universe" because the answer you got from the maths was inconclusive....a 50/50 chance either way.
If the initial objectives of the study made no prior mention of, or were biased either way to the conclusions of the study, then that could count as an objective conclusion. But only where their methodology of the study was also objective in its application and the subsequent analysis reflected this.