Real-Life Decision Making
In your work as a university professor, you are required to propose research projects, then locate funding. Then you conduct your research, analyze the findings and publish the results.
You have been conducting research in a certain area. When you began the project, you strongly believed that a certain thing was true, and that the results of your research would support the belief (hypothesis) that the condition was true.
Your university expects that your research will support the belief that the condition is true. Your sponsors also expect that the statement will be proven true. You know that if it is true, you will be able to publish your findings, but if it is not true, you probably will not find a publisher.
There is only one problem.
After you have collected your data and analyzed it, the research does not support your hypothesis. That is, the data suggests that the condition is not true.
You are hugely disappointed. You have a difficult time accepting that the data does not support your hypothesis. You begin to rationalize to yourself. You think, "Perhaps I didn't collect the right data. Perhaps I have interpreted the data wrongly. If I interpret the data in a different way, it will suggest that my hypothesis is true."
You now must make your report to the university's research committee.
What do you do?