Linguistic Diversity and Traffic Accidents: Lessons from Statistical Studies of Cultural Traits
Figure 1
The scientific processes of different nomothetic studies.
Observations are drawn from the world, either as idiographic studies or experiments. These observations can be compiled into large-scale cross-cultural databases. Scientific elements include theory, hypotheses and testing. Trajectories indicate the process of different studies. Processes start at a dot and continue in the direction indicated by the arrows. The ideal trajectory is the following: A theory generates a hypothesis. The hypothesis suggests data to collect, which is then tested. The results of the test feed back into the theory. Lupyan & Dale (2010) follow this trajectory, although they take their data from a large-scale cross-cultural database. Lupyan & Dale's theory was generated by previous testing of (small-scale) observations by Trudgill and others. The trajectory of Dediu & Ladd's study differs in two ways. First, the trajectory starts with large-scale cross-cultural data rather than small-scale observations. Secondly, the testing generates the hypothesis, which suggests a theory. However, Ladd et al. (2013) use this theory to motivate a hypothesis which is tested on experimental data. Since developing theories from small-scale observations takes time and effort, Dediu & Ladd's study has effectively jump-started the conventional scientific process.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0070902.g001