[Paleopsych] ivory tower elites

[Steve Hovland]

I am aware that studies can be concocted to 
prove just about any position.

The end result is to make one suspicious of
the whole concept of studies, particularly in
the realm of the social pseudosciences.

Any study needs to be examined for bias due
to funding source, the type of questions asked 
and the way that they are asked, population, 
sample size, sample selection, and duration.

There is not much objectivity in the real world,
and at any point in time the state of the global
brain is an interference pattern generated by
the contending viewpoints.

Steve Hovland
www.stevehovland.net


-----Original Message-----
From:	Michael Christopher [SMTP:anonymous_animus at yahoo.com]
Sent:	Sunday, November 28, 2004 10:48 AM
To:	paleopsych at paleopsych.org
Subject:	[Paleopsych] ivory tower elites


>>My street level knowledge says that some of these
studies are not very scientific. Worse, they are
pseudoscience or mercenary science.<<

--I'd have to do extensive research to decide with
"absolute" certainty which research is right. I know
reality is often counterintuitive and does not conform
to either political side's theories as well as they'd
like. It's possible minimum wage laws hurt workers,
it's also possible that what appears to work in a
think tank study will fail when applied to reality.
Hard to say, without experimenting with the actual
system, and that involves affecting real people.

I worry that the anti-liberal movement is drawing on
theory and ideology more than a street-level
understanding of what life is like for people other
than them. It is the equivalent of the "ivory tower
liberal elite", something conservatives deplore. Being
in a think tank as opposed to an academic
establishment does not mean one is more in touch with
reality, and it is easy for intellectuals of any
political stripe to miss variables that in reality are
crucial.

michael



		
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