“Dennis & Kintsch (2008). Evaluating theories.” - Article summary

A theory is a concise statement about how we believe the world to be. There are several things to look at when evaluating theories:

1. Descriptive adequacy

Does the theory accord with the available data?

2. Precision and interpretability

Is the theory described in a sufficiently precise fashion that it is easy to interpret?

3. Coherence and consistency

Are there logical flaws in the theory? Is it consistent with theories of other domains?

4. Prediction and falsifiability

Can the theory be falsified?

5. Postdiction and explanation

Does the theory provide a genuine explanation of existing results?

6. Parsimony

Is the theory as simple as possible?

7. Originality

Is the theory new or a restatement of an old theory?

8. Breadth

Does the theory apply to a broad range of phenomena?

9. Usability

Does the theory have applied implications?

10. Rationality

Are the claims of the theory reasonable?

Postdiction refers to predictions under controlled conditions.