Presented at the Bangladesh Winter School on May 28, 2024 at 9.00 am BD time by Professor Omar Hasan Kasule Sr MB ChB (MUK), MPH (Harvard), DrPH (Harvard).
QURAN and EVIDENCE
- Allah’s signs in the cosmos: Fusillat:53.
- سَنُرِيهِمْ آيَاتِنَا فِي الْآفَاقِ وَفِي أَنْفُسِهِمْ حَتَّى يَتَبَيَّنَ لَهُمْ أَنَّهُ الْحَقُّ
- Ahzab:62 Constant laws of Allah.
- فَلَن تَجِدَ لِسُنَّتِ ٱللَّهِ تَبْدِيلًا ۖ وَلَن تَجِدَ لِسُنَّتِ ٱللَّهِ تَحْوِيلًا
- Descriptive research is looking for phenomena and their manifestations.
- Analytic research is looking for causal relations (sababiyah) between phenomena
- The causal relations follow the sunan.
- We do research to discover the underlying sunan and benefit from them.
EVIDENCE-BASED
KNOWLEDGE
- The universal law of causality; everything has a cause/reason.
- Evidence is the basis of inferences, حجية الرهانن Baqara:111.
- قُلْ هَاتُواْ بُرْهَٰنَكُمْ إِن كُنتُمْ صَٰدِقِينَ
- Evidence based on observation. An’am 11.
- قُلْ سِيرُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ ثُمَّ انظُرُوا كَيْفَ كَانَ عَاقِبَةُ الْمُكَذِّبِينَ.
- Evidence from experimentation the story of Ibrahim. Baqara:260.
- وَإِذْ قَالَ إِبْرَاهِيمُ رَبِّ أَرِنِي كَيْفَ تُحْيِي الْمَوْتَىٰ ۖ قَالَ أَوَلَمْ تُؤْمِن ۖ قَالَ بَلَىٰ وَلَٰكِن لِّيَطْمَئِنَّ قَلْبِي ۖ قَالَ فَخُذْ أَرْبَعَةً مِّنَ الطَّيْرِ فَصُرْهُنَّ إِلَيْكَ ثُمَّ اجْعَلْ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ جَبَلٍ مِّنْهُنَّ جُزْءًا ثُمَّ ادْعُهُنَّ يَأْتِينَكَ سَعْيًا ۚ وَاعْلَمْ أَنَّ اللَّهَ عَزِيزٌ حَكِيمٌ
THE SCIENTIFIC
METHOD
- The scientific method is the formulation of a hypothesis, then using observations and experiments to test the hypothesis and reach a conclusion. The conclusion then suggests further hypotheses and testing.
- The scientific method starts with a phenomenon or a practical problem that requires a solution.
- The problem is defined in more detail best if this is done quantitatively.
- A hypothesis is proposed to explain the
phenomenon. A hypothesis is a learned guess.
- Data is collected to test the hypothesis and
reach a conclusion.
RESEARCH REQUIRES
HYPOTHESES
- Research without a hypothesis is a fishing trip.
- Even chance findings require a prior
hypothesis. ‘Chance favors the prepared mind’ is a famous quote from Louis.
- Pasteur, who started the field of bacteriology.
- Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin by ‘chance’, but his mind had hypotheses that prepared him to reach conclusions
- In 1928, Dr. Alexander Fleming discovered a mould that had contaminated a bacterial culture and concluded that it produced a chemical capable of killing bacteria.
TYPES OF HYPOTHESES
- A hypothesis is about a causal relationship.
- The null hypothesis denies the existence of a
causal relationship.
- The alternative hypothesis complements the null
hypothesis.
- Data is collected and analysed to reject and
not accept a null hypothesis.
- The alternative hypothesis helps clarify our
thinking and to sharpen the definition of the null hypothesis.
MISTAKES IN TESTING
HYPOTHESES
- False negative.
- False positive.
- The mistakes can be quantified.
- In most medical and social research, the error
level tolerated is 5% or alpha = 0.05, which means the chance that the
hypothesis was rejected in error.
WHAT ABOUT QUALITATIVE
RESEARCH?
- Most statistical methods have been developed
for quantitative data.
- It is observed that many phenomena cannot be
quantified, so qualitative research has developed.
- There are many methods of qualitative research
with respective hypothesis formulation/testing.