Thank you so much for your reply! Hugs!!!
All the stuff in the middle, it seems to me, really depends on the quantity and quality of the evidence that we have to work with, and on the sophistication of our instruments.
Indeed. My ranking has nothing to do with scientists' rationality, integrity, professionalism, etc. - it has to do with the nature of the inquiry. The ability to reproduce evidence, or confirm by tools of math, diminishes the further down the list. Consequently, the further down the list, the greater the demand for subjective analysis - and therefore, in my case, the lower my confidence in the results.
We seem to be in agreement. [Hugs with wild abandon!]