And Dr. Edelson strongly reminds us that there are always rival hypotheses to be endlessly tested against the favored ones in any domain of science.

Therein, my call for the use of control groups pertained to testing Freudian therapeutic claims against the rival hypothesis of placebo effect.

No research design, no matter how clever, can help distinguish such rival hypotheses, save for interventional experiments.

But before that final flash, other parts of the brain might be entertaining rival hypotheses - what Mr. Dennett calls multiple drafts.

The presentation of rival hypotheses and explanations may enhance both quantitative and qualitative approaches (Yin, 1999).

Dr. Harris and Mr. Semaw said the new findings could help scientists assess rival hypotheses proposed for the beginning of tool manufacturing.

The current sense goes back to a phrase coined by Francis Bacon, who used "crucial" to describe an event that makes you choose between rival hypotheses.

Where spurious relationships cannot be ruled out, rival hypotheses to the original causal inference hypothesis of the researcher may be developed.

The evidence from molecular biology so far does not clearly determine which of two rival hypotheses about the fundamental nature of the disease might be right.

The apparent diversity of ancient skeletal remains, which may include traits not typically associated with modern Native Americans, has been used as evidence to support these rival hypotheses.