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submitted 4 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

xkcd #3101: Good Science

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:

  1. genuine curiosity about the answer to a question, and
  2. 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/

explainxkcd for #3101

top 14 comments
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[-] [email protected] 49 points 4 weeks ago

Rigor without curiosity is just judging Olympic gymnastics.

[-] [email protected] 10 points 4 weeks ago

If my “judging” you mean, who is the hottest gymnast?

[-] [email protected] 13 points 4 weeks ago
[-] [email protected] 12 points 4 weeks ago
[-] [email protected] 12 points 4 weeks ago
[-] [email protected] 6 points 4 weeks ago

Potassium hydroxide? How basic

[-] [email protected] 23 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

Turns out the science was the questions we asked along the way.

[-] [email protected] 12 points 4 weeks ago
[-] [email protected] 6 points 4 weeks ago
[-] [email protected] 2 points 4 weeks ago

That can be such an annoying one to get to depending on where the nearest oil patch is.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 4 weeks ago

Only good science is gleba science

[-] [email protected] 3 points 4 weeks ago

What about rigor without ammonium hydroxide?

[-] [email protected] 5 points 4 weeks ago

Clearly, that's not possible!

[-] [email protected] 2 points 4 weeks ago

News: Scientists prove: Drinking Ammonium Hydroxide will make you super smart!!

this post was submitted on 11 Jun 2025
439 points (99.1% liked)

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