Evidence
- Review by Igor Martinache
Published 08 November 2017
Howard S. Becker, Evidence, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 2017, 223 p., ISBN : 9780226466378.
Notice published 07 September 2017
Publisher's presentation
When you read in the newspaper that "research has shown X, Y and Z", do you ever ask yourself how research has done that? It's not as simple as it may seem. In fact, Howard S. Becker argues, it's the hardest thing to do. You can easily dream up new ideas, but scientific studies can't just state new ideas. They have to produce evidence, data that show that a new idea is supported by observations gatheredin a rigorous way. But the biggest problems in social science arise when the facts offered have explanations other than the one scientist is hoping to prove.
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