On the Purposes Served by Psychological Research and its Critics
- 1 April 1998
- journal article
- other
- Published by SAGE Publications in Theory & Psychology
- Vol. 8 (2) , 205-212
- https://doi.org/10.1177/0959354398082007
Abstract
We concur with Wallach and Wallach's (1998) subjective assessment that much psychological research contributes little to our corpus of knowledge, but we dispute their analysis of the causes of this problem. A critical assessment of their analysis reveals it to be (a) logically flawed, (b) irrelevant to hypotheses conceming psychological processes, and (c) potentially injurious to the processes through which creative scientific hypotheses are developed. The Wallachs' article may serve a valuable purpose-but only if read very critically.Keywords
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