Hypothesis Testing in the Dialectic of Stability and Change: Honoring the Work and Careers of J. W. Patterson and David Zarefsky

Session Submission Type: Paper Session

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Hypothesis testing as a paradigm of argument evaluation in competitive debate reflects both the thought and the lifeworlds of two nearly-retired scholar/teacher/coaches whose textbook Contemporary Debate just celebrated its 25th anniversary in print. This panel will be devoted to the reflections of three other scholar/teacher/coaches, who have worked closely with both of these eminent individuals, on the theory and practice of hypothesis testing and how argumentation and debate are both stabilized and changed through its assumptions and operations.

Sub Unit

• American Forensic Association

Chair

• Clark Olson, Arizona State University

Individual Presentations

• The Revenge of Hypothesis Testing: How Some Smart Debaters Learned the Lessons, if not the Name, of the Game - David Hingstman, University of Iowa

Respondent

• David Zarefsky, Northwestern University

Session Organizer

• David Hingstman, University of Iowa