Testability - Wikipedia Testability From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search Extent to which truthness or falseness of a hypothesis/declaration can be tested This article is about hypothesis testing. For the ability of equipment to be tested, see Non-functional requirement and Software testability. Testability, a property applying to an empirical hypothesis, involves two components: Falsifiability or defeasibility, which means that counterexamples to the hypothesis are logically possible. The practical feasibility of observing a reproducible series of such counterexamples if they do exist. In short, a hypothesis is testable if there is a possibility of deciding whether it is true or false based on experimentation. This allows to decide whether a theory can be supported or refuted by data. However, the interpretation of experimental data may be also inconclusive or uncertain. See also[edit] Philosophy portal Science portal Confirmability Controllability Observability Scientific method Test method Further reading[edit] Johansson, Lars-Goran (2015). "Hypotheses and hypothesis testing". Philosophy of science for scientists. Cham: Springer-Verlag. pp. 41–61 (59). doi:10.1007/978-3-319-26551-3. ISBN 9783319265490. OCLC 923649072. ... the question of whether the auxiliary assumption is testable or not is not so easy to determine as it might first appear. Criteria regarding independent testability do not seem to be absolute. ... The least common denominator for all sciences is that hypotheses are formulated and tested. This is meaningful only if one is prepared to change one's mind after testing, to admit that even one's favourite hypothesis was wrong. ... The result of the test is either that the predictions and observation reports are compatible, or that they conflict. In the former case one may be justified to say that one's hypothesis is supported. In the latter case one must reconsider something; one must reject either the hypothesis, some auxiliary assumption, or the observation report. Kegan, Robert; Lahey, Lisa Laskow (2009). "Designing tests of your big assumption". Immunity to change: how to overcome it and unlock potential in yourself and your organization. Leadership for the common good. Boston: Harvard Business Press. pp. 256–264. ISBN 9781422117361. OCLC 231580325. The purpose of each test you run is to see what happens when you intentionally alter your usual conduct and then reflect upon the meaning of the results for your big assumption. ... To make [the assumption] testable, you may have to back up and unearth a prior assumption in the sequence ... Once you've chosen a big assumption to test, the next step is to design your first experiment to challenge it. Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey suggest how to turn personal tacit assumptions into explicit testable hypotheses in everyday life. Keuth, Herbert (2004) [Published in German 2000]. "From falsifiability to testability". The philosophy of Karl Popper (1st English ed.). Cambridge, UK; New York: Cambridge University Press. pp. 48–49. ISBN 9780521548304. OCLC 54503549. Consequently, the universal statements, which are contradicted by the basic statements, are not strictly refutable. Like singular statements and probability statements, they are empirically testable, but their tests do not have certain, definite results, do not result in strict verification or falsification but only in temporary acceptance or rejection. Popper, Karl (2002) [Published in German 1935; English translation 1959]. The logic of scientific discovery (Reprint ed.). London; New York: Routledge. pp. 95–120 (95). doi:10.4324/9780203994627. ISBN 9780415278447. OCLC 48533950. Theories may be more, or less, severely testable; that is to say, more, or less, easily falsifiable. The degree of their testability is of significance for the selection of theories. In this chapter, I shall compare the various degrees of testability or falsifiability of theories through comparing the classes of their potential falsifiers. This investigation is quite independent of the question whether or not it is possible to distinguish in an absolute sense between falsifiable and non-falsifiable theories. Indeed one might say of the present chapter that it 'relativizes' the requirement of falsifiability by showing falsifiability to be a matter of degree. Sober, Elliott (November 1999). "Testability". Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association. 73 (2): 47–76 (47–48). doi:10.2307/3131087. JSTOR 3131087. The idea that some experiments really do test a proposition, while others do not, is not controversial, nor does it deserve to be. ... Testing is to testability as dissolving is to solubility. If we can understand what testing is, we also should be able to understand what testability is. v t e Philosophy of science Concepts Analysis Analytic–synthetic distinction A priori and a posteriori Causality Commensurability Consilience Construct Creative synthesis Demarcation problem Empirical evidence Explanatory power Fact Falsifiability Feminist method Functional contextualism Ignoramus et ignorabimus Inductive reasoning Intertheoretic reduction Inquiry Nature Objectivity Observation Paradigm Problem of induction Scientific law Scientific method Scientific revolution Scientific theory Testability Theory choice Theory-ladenness Underdetermination Unity of science Metatheory of science Coherentism Confirmation holism Constructive empiricism Constructive realism Constructivist epistemology Contextualism Conventionalism Deductive-nomological model Hypothetico-deductive model Inductionism Epistemological anarchism Evolutionism Fallibilism Foundationalism Instrumentalism Pragmatism Model-dependent realism Naturalism Physicalism Positivism / Reductionism / Determinism Rationalism / Empiricism Received view / Semantic view of theories Scientific realism / Anti-realism Scientific essentialism Scientific formalism Scientific skepticism Scientism Structuralism Uniformitarianism Vitalism Philosophy of Physics thermal and statistical Motion Chemistry Biology Geography Social science Technology Engineering Artificial intelligence Computer science Information Mind Psychiatry Psychology Perception Space and time Related topics Alchemy Criticism of science Descriptive science Epistemology Faith and rationality Hard and soft science History and philosophy of science History of science History of evolutionary thought Logic Metaphysics Normative science Pseudoscience Relationship between religion and science Rhetoric of science Science studies Sociology of scientific knowledge Sociology of scientific ignorance Philosophers of science by era Ancient Plato Aristotle Stoicism Epicureans Medieval Averroes Avicenna Roger Bacon William of Ockham Hugh of Saint Victor Dominicus Gundissalinus Robert Kilwardby Early modern Francis Bacon Thomas Hobbes René Descartes Galileo Galilei Pierre Gassendi Isaac Newton David Hume Late modern Immanuel Kant Friedrich Schelling William Whewell Auguste Comte John Stuart Mill Herbert Spencer Wilhelm Wundt Charles Sanders Peirce Wilhelm Windelband Henri Poincaré Pierre Duhem Rudolf Steiner Karl Pearson Contemporary Alfred North Whitehead Bertrand Russell Albert Einstein Otto Neurath C. 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You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Testability&oldid=995090785" Categories: Logic Philosophy of science Science stubs Hidden categories: Articles with short description Short description is different from Wikidata All stub articles Navigation menu Personal tools Not logged in Talk Contributions Create account Log in Namespaces Article Talk Variants Views Read Edit View history More Search Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Donate Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Tools What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Cite this page Wikidata item Print/export Download as PDF Printable version Languages Magyar Nederlands Português Suomi Svenska 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 19 December 2020, at 04:43 (UTC). 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