Andrew asked for "how to deal with information that falls outside of" a
scientific paradigm.
Having thought about this for 3 days, I think information can't fall
outside of a scientific paradigm. Michael McMaster offered the concept of
noise, and I think he is right on. The human being has to notice that
noise is not really noise, and then investigate. The scientific paradigm
(or the Deming cycle) is a fine tool or methodology for investigating data
once it has been identified as data. There may be other methods, but I do
not know of them.
Some people are very astute in their ability to detect information in what
others think is noise. As far as I know, this is still an art, not a
well-defined process. The scientific methodology is a well-defined
process that begins once data has been identified. The scientific method
is _not_ necessarily, as is often claimed, a reductionist process.
However, it also does not necessarily work all the time, either.
-- Rol Fessenden LL Bean, Inc 76234.3636@compuserve.com