Why do some, if not all, scientific papers use inconclusive language/words like “could”, “may”, “suggests”, “indicates” ?

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Purposefully “vague” or “inconclusive” language like the following examples are frequently used in studies:

“Our study indicates that”

“The findings suggest”

“We postulate to…”

“may stop germs”

Why is this? Is it simply because they literally can’t conclude anything 100%? I read the following quote on a different thread, and perhaps this could somehow lead me to an answer, ” Science cannot prove; it can only disprove”?

Many thanks!

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8 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Because scientists don’t deal in absolutes, that’s not how science works. A hypothesis for an experiment is just an educated guess. Having that hypothesis proven experimentally doesn’t make the underlying assumption universally true, it just means that the assumption is probably worth investigating further.

Even when a hypothesis is proven many, many times over, at *best* it becomes a theory, which is the most concrete thing in science. It means “guys, we’re like, *super* sure of this concept based on this mountain of experimental evidence, but we could still discover something tomorrow that proves the whole thing invalid”

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