Scientific Method: How Science Works, Fails to Work, and Pretends to Work

by John Staddon

This book shows how science works, fails to work, or pretends to work, by looking at examples from such diverse fields as physics, biomedicine, psychology, and economics. Social science affects our lives every day through the predictions of experts and the rules and regulations they devise. Sciences like economics, sociology and health are subject to more 'operating limitations' than classical fields like physics or chemistry or biology. Yet, their methods and results must also be judged according to the same scientific standards. Every literate citizen should understand these standards and be able to tell the difference between good science and bad. Scientific Method enables readers to develop a critical, informed view of scientific practice by discussing concrete examples of how real scientists have approached the problems of their fields. It is ideal for students and professionals trying to make sense of the role of science in society, and of the meaning, value, and limitations of scientific methodology in the social sciences.

148 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 1, 2017

Reviews

[Robyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting book. Reading it after reading Climate Change isn't Everything: Liberating Climate Politics from Alarmism I think it was a bit of a letdown. I really enjoyed the discussion presented in the first half on the power and promise of social science to describe the world.

However, the author lost me in the second half by venerating research and theoretical practices in psychology while denigrating all other social science disciplines. This is one of the weird situations where I think it is important to recognize that all behavioral sciences have experimental problems. To say that lab experiments with animals can come close to explaining the causes behind various social behaviors-when lab animals by definition are not under the same constraints as their wild counterparts-seems not only disingenuous, but false.

Experimental conditions remove the complexities and variables present in natural environments, which can lead to oversimplified conclusions. To say that the conclusions from this type of experimentation is more "science" than those found in other disciplines is unsupportable, especially when you continue on to say the assumptions made in economics limit that disciplines applicability to real-world settings.

I would say read the first 1-8 chapters, they do bring up some very important points about the nature of science and the challenge inherent to social science. If you elect to proceed to chapter 9, recognize there is bias ahead.