Figure 1

Schematic diagram of hypothesis formulation approaches: centralized (conventionally used) and decentralized (proposed herein).

The centralized approach uses a primary phenomenon for the generation of a dominant hypothesis and based on that hypothesis, seeks secondary experiments/phenomena for further validation; the logical reasoning structure is essentially linear and in series. The decentralized approach uses a broad suite of primary phenomena, accumulated without preconception of any kind, for the simultaneous derivation of many hypotheses; the logical reasoning structure is reticular and in parallel.