The diversity principle and the evaluation of evidence.

The diversity principle-the intuitive notion that diverse evidence is, all else equal, more persuasive, suggestive, confirmatory, or otherwise better than less varied sets of evidence-is a clear component of scientific practice and endorsed by scientists and philosophers alike. A great body of psychological research on people's understanding and application of the diversity principle exists, yet it remains divided into multiple, distinct research communities, which often come to conflicting conclusions. One reason for this is that the range of tasks and domains investigated is appropriately wide.