[论文解读] The Rise of Null Hypothesis Significance Testing (NHST): Institutional Massification and the Emergence of a Procedural Epistemology

Carol Ting|arXiv (Cornell University)|Mar 16, 2026

Information Systems Theories and Implementation被引用 0

一句话总结

论文解释了为什么 NHST 通过将其框定为战后制度性大规模化中兴起的社会技术来保持主导地位，用程序性规则取代情境性认识判断。

ABSTRACT

It has long been a puzzle why, despite sustained reform efforts, many applied scientific fields remain dominated by Null Hypothesis Significance Testing (NHST), a framework that dichotomizes study results and privileges "statistically significant" findings. This paper examines that puzzle by situating the development and rise of NHST within its historical and institutional context. Taking Actor-Network Theory as a point of entry, the analysis identifies the conditions under which particular inferential technologies stabilize and endure. The analysis shows that, although NHST does not resolve the technical problem of statistical inference, it came to dominate as a social technology that addressed the most pressing institutional challenge of the postwar period: the mass expansion of scientific networks. Under conditions of rapid institutional growth, NHST's technical slippages--purging research context and replacing epistemic judgment with mechanical procedures--became functional features rather than flaws. These features enabled procedural self-sufficiency across settings marked by heterogeneous goals and uneven expertise, thereby sealing NHST's position as the obligatory passage point in many postwar scientific fields.

研究动机与目标

• 在应用科学改革努力仍在的背景下，激励并解释 NHST 的持续性。
• 使用行动者网络理论在历史与制度背景中框定 NHST 的发展。
• 识别在快速扩展的科学网络中，推断技术如何稳定并持续存在。

提出的方法

• 应用行动者网络理论追踪 NHST 如何成为一个稳定的社会技术。
• 分析有利于 NHST 采纳与持续存在的历史与制度条件。
• 将 NHST 描述为一种将研究情境抽象为机械程序的程序性技术。

实验结果

研究问题

• RQ1 哪些制度与历史因素促成了 NHST 的崛起与主导地位？
• RQ2 NHST 如何作为一种社会技术来应对科学网络的大规模扩张？
• RQ3 NHST 的哪些特征使其成为一种程序性认识论，而不仅仅是纯粹的技术推断方法？

主要发现

• NHST 作为应对战后科学网络制度性大规模化的社会技术而占主导地位。
• NHST 的技术性滑移——净化情境并以机械程序取代认识判断——成为功能性特征，而非缺陷。
• 这些特征在异质环境和水平不均的专业知识下实现程序性的自给自足。
• 由于在扩张中的网络中具有稳定作用，NHST 成为许多战后科学领域的必经之路点。