Tables of presence and absence

To discover what really causes an effect, Bacon suggests not trusting your first hunch but drawing up three lists: cases where the effect is present, similar cases where it is absent, and cases where it varies by degree. The likely cause is what tracks the effect across the three tables. This is the concrete form of his induction, and a simple way today to look for the cause of a symptom, a breakdown or a success instead of guessing it.