Academic research: musings

[A. G. Maisey]

That's a nice statement in support of the scientific method Bob, and I doubt that anybody would want to debate what you have put forward, but I will offer this:-

no hypothesis can be put forward without a question that needs an answer

the question does not come from research, it comes from experience and rational thought

once the hypothesis has been stated, that is when the research begins, and that research might result in a theory