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Overcoming Bias : Alas Shy Academics

I commonly meet … social scientists who will tell you about the implications of their latest research, yet if you ask them other questions they will respond in hushed tones of the most severe agnosticism. … Yet I find … these same people will hold very definite political views and act on them in their private lives. … This is one of my pet peeves. It is defensible to be truly agnostic.... moreI commonly meet … social scientists who will tell you about the implications of their latest research, yet if you ask them other questions they will respond in hushed tones of the most severe agnosticism. … Yet I find … these same people will hold very definite political views and act on them in their private lives. … This is one of my pet peeves. It is defensible to be truly agnostic. It is also defensible to … have “all things considered” policy views on matters we have not studied closely. It is not defensible to hold such views but, under the cloak of a not-really-meant agnosticism, refuse to put them on the social science table, so to speak. (I find that bloggers hardly ever suffer from this problem.) view page