adversarial collaboration
Any of a class of study designs in which scientists with conflicting theories work together with others who are neutral or agnostic about those theories, and this team runs an experiment to test the theories empirically and thus find out whether one of the theories is contradicted by the evidence found.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“The two scientists started an adversarial collaboration to test their disagreeing theories.”
“We use an adversarial collaboration to find the truth when we disagree.”
“To settle their long-standing debate, the researchers entered an adversarial collaboration to design a fair experiment that would test both of their hypotheses.”
“The two professors agreed on an adversarial collaboration to see if their different ideas about memory could be proven right or wrong in the same lab.”
“Instead of arguing in journals, the rivals used an adversarial collaboration to run a single study that followed rules they both accepted as fair.”
“By engaging in an adversarial collaboration, the opposing research teams sought to resolve their conflicting findings through a rigorous, neutral study that would finally reveal which theory the evidence supported.”
Last updated August 10, 2026