Fellow Scholars: Let’s Liberate Ourselves from Scientific Machinery

Abstract

In science, a well-oiled machinery exists that can be used to obtain research funding, to create information for data analysis, and to publish results. Innovation does take place. However, there exist basic assumptions, beliefs, and convictions that are neither questioned nor reconsidered, but can confine innovation within the frame provided. In this article, two examples are given to encourage researchers to reconsider these quasi-factual assumptions. The first example is that of person-oriented research. Results of person-oriented research allow researchers to validly describe both individuals and aggregates, and, therefore, devise intervention plans that are more likely to succeed. The second example is that of causality. New statistical methods to evaluate causal hypotheses allow one to make decisions about causal processes that, before the development of these methods, were impossible to justify statistically. Both examples show that reconsidering commonly held beliefs can result in most useful and applicable results.

Notes

¹ These data can freely be downloaded from http://www.europeansocialsurvey.org/data/