Investigating the Psychological World Scientific Method in the Behavioral Sciences

219 Pages·2014·15.59 MB·English

by  Brian D. Haig

Investigating the Psychological World
Life and Mind: Philosophical Issues in Biology and Psychology
Kim Sterelny and Robert A. Wilson, Series Editors
Investigating the Psychological World: Scientific Method in the Behavioral Sci-
ences , Brian D. Haig, 2014
Evolution in Four Dimensions: Genetic, Epigenetic, Behavioral, and Symbolic
Variation in the History of Life , revised edition, Eva Jablonka and Marion J.
Lamb, 2014
Cooperation and Its Evolution , Kim Sterelny, Richard Joyce, Brett Calcott, and
Ben Fraser, editors, 2013
Ingenious Genes: How Gene Regulation Networks Evolve to Control Develop-
ment , Roger Sansom, 2011
Yuck! The Nature and Moral Significance of Disgust , Daniel Kelly, 2011
Laws, Mind, and Free Will , Steven Horst, 2011
Perplexities of Consciousness , Eric Schwitzgebel, 2011
Humanity’ s End: Why We Should Reject Radical Enhancement , Nicholas Agar,
2010
Color Ontology and Color Science , Jonathan Cohen and Mohan Matthen, edi-
tors, 2010
The Extended Mind , Richard Menary, editor, 2010
The Native Mind and the Cultural Construction of Nature , Scott Atran and
Douglas Medin, 2008
Describing Inner Experience? Proponent Meets Skeptic , Russell T. Hurlburt and
Eric Schwitzgebel, 2007
Evolutionary Psychology as Maladapted Psychology , Robert C. Richardson, 2007
The Evolution of Morality , Richard Joyce, 2006
Evolution in Four Dimensions: Genetic, Epigenetic, Behavioral, and Symbolic
Variation in the History of Life , Eva Jablonka and Marion J. Lamb, 2005
Molecular Models of Life: Philosophical Papers on Molecular Biology , Sahotra
Sarkar, 2005
The Mind Incarnate , Lawrence A. Shapiro, 2004
Organisms and Artifacts: Design in Nature and Elsewhere , Tim Lewens, 2004
Seeing and Visualizing: It’ s Not What You Think , Zenon W. Pylyshyn, 2003
Evolution and Learning: The Baldwin Effect Reconsidered , Bruce H. Weber and
David J. Depew, editors, 2003
The New Phrenology: The Limits of Localizing Cognitive Processes in the Brain ,
William R. Uttal, 2001
Cycles of Contingency: Developmental Systems and Evolution , Susan Oyama,
Paul E. Griffiths, and Russell D. Gray, editors, 2001
Coherence in Thought and Action , Paul Thagard, 2000
Investigating the Psychological World
Scientific Method in the Behavioral Sciences
Brian D. Haig
A Bradford Book
The MIT Press
Cambridge, Massachusetts
London, England
© 2014 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Haig, Brian D., 1945 – .
Investigating the psychological world : scientific method in the behavioral sciences / Brian
D. Haig.
pages cm. — (Life and mind : philosophical issues in biology and psychology) (A
Bradford book)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-262-02736-6 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Psychology— Research— Methodology. I. Title.
BF76.5.H335 2014
150.72'1 — dc23
2013032413

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
The attempt to understand and improve methods, and to do so via theorizing
them, is at the center of an intelligently evolving cognition.
— Clifford Hooker (1987, 291)
Above all, if a raised standard of education in methods is to be achieved, it is
necessary to engender, beyond any knowledge of particular skills and formulae
as such, a perspective as to what methods are most appropriate to various areas
and occasions.
— Raymond Cattell (1966, 5)

Contents
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xvii
1 Method, Methodology, and Realism 1
1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 Criticisms of the Idea of Scientifi c Method 2
1.3 Four Theories of Scientifi c Method 5
1.4 The Nature of Methodology 11
1.5 Scientifi c Realism 17
1.6 An Overview of the Abductive Theory of Method 23
1.7 Conclusion 29
2 Detecting Psychological Phenomena 31
2.1 Introduction 31
2.2 The Nature of Phenomena 32
2.3 Procedures for Phenomena Detection 37
2.4 Reasoning from Data to Phenomena 43
2.5 Phenomena Detection and the Nature of Psychological
Science 45
2.6 Implications for Psychological Research 50
2.7 Conclusion 57
3 Theory Generation: Exploratory Factor Analysis 59
3.1 Introduction 59
3.2 The Inferential Nature of Exploratory Factor Analysis 60
3.3 Common Factor Analysis and Scientifi c Method 71
viii Contents
3.4 Exploratory Factor Analysis, Phenomena Detection, and
Explanatory Theories 73
3.5 Exploratory Factor Analysis and Confi rmatory Factor
Analysis 79
3.6 Summary and Conclusion 84
4 Theory Development: Analogical Modeling 87
4.1 Introduction 87
4.2 Types of Models 89
4.3 Data, Models, and Theories 91
4.4 The Functions of Models 93
4.5 Modeling in ATOM 95
4.6 Analogical Modeling 97
4.7 Analogical Abduction 100
4.8 The Dramaturgical Model 102
4.9 Conclusion 104
5 Theory Appraisal: Inference to the Best Explanation 105
5.1 Introduction 105
5.2 Inference to the Best Explanation 107
5.3 Two Criticisms of Inference to the Best Explanation 118
5.4 Inference to the Best Explanation and Other Methods of
Theory Appraisal 121
5.5 The Proper Scope of Inference to the Best Explanation 127
5.6 Implications for Psychology 129
5.7 Conclusion 131
6 Conclusion 133
6.1 Introduction 133
6.2 A Coda on Scientifi c Problems 133
6.3 Two Fundamental Commitments of ATOM 137
6.4 Phenomena Detection and Theory Construction Again 138
6.5 Two Applications of ATOM 141
6.6 ATOM Defended and Clarifi ed 147
6.7 Scientifi c Method and Education 158
6.8 Final Word 160
Notes 163
References 171
Index 189
Preface
Although modern science is made up of many parts, scientific method is
its centerpiece. The centrality of method to science stems from the fact
that it provides scientists with the primary form of guidance in their quest
to obtain knowledge about the world. As fallible inquirers, scientists face
immense challenges in their efforts to learn about the complexities of
nature. In good part, these challenges are met through the use of methods,
which provide scientists with the cognitive assistance that they need to
undertake successful inquiry.
However, despite its undoubted importance, scientific method receives
less considered attention than it deserves, from both scientists and educa-
tors. Of course, scientists take method seriously, but I believe that they
do not take it seriously enough. Scientists themselves, including psycholo-
gists, learn about research methods and how to use them to conduct their
research. However, the nature of this learning, and of the instruction they
receive about how to employ these methods, is better described as a mix
of training and indoctrination than as a genuine education designed to
provide a critical, in-depth understandi ng of the methods. Although
professional science educators sometimes promote the importance of the
epistemological foundations of scientific method, the influence of this
source of learning on the regular teaching of research methods is minimal.
Psychology, which provides extensively in its curriculum for teaching
research methods, uses textbooks that make little or no effort to inform
students in depth about the nature of scientific method. Nor does its
curriculum foster a critical appreciation of the various research methods
that its textbooks deal with. Consequently both psychological scientists
and psychology students tend to have a limited understanding of scien-
tific method, which in turn contributes to a misuse of research methods
and a suboptimal level of scientific literacy.