Dr.PainCLE said:

If two explanations both fit, the useful question is which one predicts something the other does not.

Second this. The detail I would add is minor and it is already implied above.

dan_philly said:

The boring version of this is the one that works, and the boring version is: measure a baseline, change one variable, wait, measure again under the…

This answered a question I did not know how to ask. Printing the relevant bit and taking it with me.

Clinical perspective, offered as context rather than as advice. It helps to say which part of this you are uncertain about. A precise question gets a precise answer; a general one gets everybody’s favourite anecdote.

LibrarianMeg said:

It helps to say which part of this you are uncertain about.

Same experience, arrived at from the opposite direction.

Moderator note: good thread. Keeping it here rather than moving it, because the question is general enough to be useful. Thread quality here is what the rules are for. Keep it up.