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Dear Berger and all, The definition of evidence from its etymology is 'that which can be seen obviously by eye or mind' Evidence always and only comprises three components: 1. Reasoning and explanation 2. Data (May be quantitative, qualitative, theoretical, perceptual...) 3. A speculative opinion or statement to be tested. The' reasoning and explanation' shows how the 'Data' makes obvious to the eye or mind that the ' speculative opinion or statement to be tested' is true/false/indeterminable/structured or its outcome might be predicted. Of the three, correctness of 'reasoning and explanation' is the most important. In some cases (deictic evidence), the data is almost all there is and the amount of reasoning is small. For example, if you hold up a cup and say 'this is a cup and I can drink from it' (note all three elements of evidence are there). In other cases (logical evidence), the reasoning is almost all there is and data is small. This can be seen in mathematical proofs using axioms as data. In other cases, (casuistic evidence), both reasoning and data are small. This can be seen in religious argument 'Why is X true? Because god (or some one's granny) says so'. In other cases, (e.g. rhetoric evidence, and false evidence), it is not possible to use the evidence in research terms to justifiably test the 'speculative opinion or statement to be tested'. This position seems to me to be the most viable of all those on evidence related to evidence-based design, in that I can find serious flaws in all the other positions. Best wishes, Terence --- Dr Terence Love PhD(UWA), BA(Hons) Engin. PGCEd, FDRS, PMACM, MISI Love Services Pty Ltd PO Box 226, Quinns Rocks Western Australia 6030 Tel: +61 (0)4 3497 5848 [log in to unmask] www.loveservices.com.au -- ----------------------------------------------------------------- PhD-Design mailing list <[log in to unmask]> Discussion of PhD studies and related research in Design Subscribe or Unsubscribe at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/phd-design -----------------------------------------------------------------