Cargo Cult Science

[snousle]

Here's one of the most important essays ever written about the scientific method. I first read this a number of years ago and it's stuck with me ever since.

http://www.lhup.edu/~DSIMANEK/cargocul.htm

Having had the idea of "cargo cults" pointed out to me - imitating the superficial appearance of something to no effect - I now see them everywhere.

Comments

[jawnbc]

Must've been gripping stuff...in 1974.

It's probably been 30 years since psychologists have used the term experiment to describe their positivist research. Quasi-experiment is more often the norm, particularly with human participation. There's an embedded tension in behavourist research: wanting to control for variables for a robust finding, and accepting that understanding human phenomenon cannot be done in isolation from environment. Hence the move towards less overarching claims of generalizability.

Dunno how it works in basic sciences though.

Now if you wanna critique something, regression's a great places to start....