ABSTRACT
LET us take three passages chosen from three studies in the social sciences. Each passage is of a kind which often comes under the criticism of natural scientists. This sort of thing may be quite interesting,’ they say, ‘but is it science ? When we learn from the first passage, for example, that a group called “the corner boys” ranked people, individually and in groups, by their success at gambling we have a piece of information which seems to foreshadow a valuable discovery. All too often, however, the foreshadowing occupies the entire study. Instead of explanation we receive a mere description of how some people behave in their particular circumstances.’
