The control factor in social experimentation

Philosophy of Science 21 (3):260-268 (1954)
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Abstract

When the terms ‘control’ and ‘experiment’ are used in reference to the methodological procedures of the social sciences, frequently the question is raised as to whether or not the investigator uses the terms in the same sense as the natural scientist. The purpose of this paper is to show that the social scientist has good reason to use them in the same sense and that in fact this usage is consistent with a long tradition of social research. This will be shown by an investigation of some common assumptions in the social sciences, such as, the claim that the social sciences are younger than the natural sciences and that the former have depended upon the latter for methodological cues, that human behavior is ultimately inexplicable and unpredictable, and that the social scientist is unable to observe human behavior under controlled, experimental conditions except in trivial instances. Of course, not all social scientists make these assumptions but they occur in the literature and their significance is considerable when the scientific status of the social sciences is being discussed.

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Thomas Lindley
University of Connecticut

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References found in this work

The Open Society and its Enemies.Karl R. Popper - 1952 - Revue Philosophique de la France Et de l'Etranger 142:629-634.
Plato.Lane Cooper - 1939 - Philosophical Review 48 (6):650-651.
Mechanism, teleology, and mind.Karl W. Deutsch - 1951 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 12 (2):185-223.
Plato. [REVIEW]Raphael Demos - 1939 - Philosophical Review 48 (6):650-651.

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