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 individual scientific papers just prove a correlation, not a causation. Until a theory or idea has been proven by many papers and studies, each of them peer-reviewed, it remains just that: a theory.

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