Forum: ell.stackexchange.com
Tags: <phrase-usage><adjectives>
Title: Can I say that "his experiments are doubtful"?
Question: I would like to express the fact that I don't have confidence in what a scientist has told me concerning an experiment he has led. Can I say that "his experiments are doubtful"?

Answers:
sents: text: Doubtful may be used in several ways : Something that is causing doubt; A person who is unsure or expresses doubt; So, you can use doubtful in both contexts.
text: If you wish to be most precise, finding a synonym is easy: His experiments are questionable ( ambiguous , problematic ); His experiments are not convincing ; I'm skeptical about his experiments;
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/27/bytebuster
score: 3
sents: text: I would say "I am doubtful of his experiments." which has the opposite meaning of "I am confident in his experiments."
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/95/kiamlaluno
score: 2
sents: text: It seems ok to me.
text: But I'd use I'm doubtful about his experiments.
text: And you could also use other words like questionable or unreliable :
text: His experiments are questionable / unreliable .
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/290/Androiderson
score: 2
sents: text: You might want to consider the word dubious for expressing your sentiments: His experiments are dubious .
text: According to Macmillan , the word means: dubious ( adj. )
text: not sure about the truth or quality of something:
text: I'm dubious about his ability to do the job. and Collins : dubious ( adj. ) marked by or causing doubt ⇒ a dubious reply of doubtful quality;
text: untrustworthy ⇒ a dubious reputation
text: Indeed, the word is sometimes used to describe experiments:
text: In a dubious experiment, Leary had given psilocybin to hardened inmates in a state prison 1
text: An incomplete or less than certain theory becomes a "model"; a dubious experiment becomes a "simulation", and so on.
text: 2
text: Remember, "A dubious experiment can only beget a dubious result." (Glaucon) F O O T N O T E S 1 W.J. Rorabaugh, Kennedy and the Promise of the Sixties , 2002. 2 L. Magnani & N.J. Nersessian, Model-Based Reasoning: Science, Technology, Values , 2002.
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/113/J.R.
score: 2
sents: text: Technically speaking, you could probably justify referring to doubtful experiments
text: where you mean you have doubts about any conclusions drawn from those experiments (for whatever reason).
text: But it doesn't sound very natural to me, and I think it's probably not a good idea.
text: Ordinarily, people are "doubtful" when they are "full of doubts".
text: By extension, we often say some specific statement of fact is "doubtful", meaning we doubt (don't believe) that it's true.
text: You might stretch that a little further and say that someone's argument is "doubtful", to mean the line of reasoning is flawed - but most people would simply assume you meant you doubted the conclusion was true, so it's not a very meaningful distinction.
text: When it comes to experiments , that distinction between the investigative process and the final conclusion suddenly becomes much more important.
text: I haven't looked into the matter too closely, but I note that on this Wikipedia page it says "Contemporary knowledge concerning the manner in which the human body reacts to freezing is based almost exclusively on ...
text: Nazi experiments" .
text: What those Nazi "doctors" did is an extreme instance of what people normally mean when they refer to doubtful or dubious experiments .
text: It's not that we question the truth of whatever the dubious experiment demonstrates - it's the morality of performing the experiment at all that we have "doubts" about.
text: I would advise OP to say he thinks the scientist's experiment is flawed, inconclusive, questionable, poorly designed, inadequately documented , or whatever other specific shortcoming he finds.
text: An experiment itself isn't something that can be true or untrue, but it can certainly be [of] doubtful [ morality ] , and that's what I think many if not most people would understand if you described it using the word.
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/126/FumbleFingers Reinstate Monica
score: 1
sents: text: Are you doubtful of his experiments, or just about results?
text: To be doubtful of the experiments suggests that you think his methods, or perhaps his presuppositions are faulty.
text: If you are doubtful only of the results, or the significance of the results, that's quite a separate matter.
text: For this reason, I would avoid saying "I am doubtful of his experiments" because it is ambiguous, and leaves the reader/listener wondering what you really doubt.
text: Be more explicit.
text: I am doubtful of his conclusions.
text: I am doubtful of the methods used in his experiments.
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/69/Flimzy
score: 0

Summary of the answers:
To be doubtful of the experiments suggests that you think his methods, or perhaps his presuppositions are incorrect.  This means that the experiments are questionable, dubious or unreliable. Finding a synonym is easy. For example:   His experiments are  questionable  (ambiguous ,  problematic);   His experiments are  not convincing ;   I'm  skeptical  about his experiments.
This may refer to doubting methods or presuppositions, but does not sound natural. Alternative options include questionable, unreliable and dubious.