The extinction of polar bears by the end of the 21st century has been predicted and calls have been made to list them as a threatened species under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. The decision on whether or not to list rests upon forecasts of what will happen to the bears over the 21st Century....

This essay examines the role of data and program-code archives in making economic research 'replicable.' Replication of published results is recognized as an essential part of the scientific method. Yet, historically, both the 'demand for' and 'supply of' replicable results in economics has been...

The eighteenth-century introduction of the scientific method of the natural sciences to the study of social phenomena draws a line between moral philosophy Ethat aspect of ancient and medieval philosophy that dealt with social issues Eand the social sciences as known today. From the onset, the...

This paper introduces Karl Popper's approach to problem solving in the social sciences. These methods fundamentally represent the scientific method of the natural sciences. Popper's problem solving technique is outlined in six steps, including an introductory treatment of his solution to Hume's...

In reply to Graham, Johnson and Schnabel (1977), we point out that they have raised a relatively difficult question in scientific method. Provided our earlier work is accepted as operating in the context of the two-period model, we reassert that it revealed no anomalous evidence.

Green and Shapiro have argued that rational choice theory has produced virtually no new propositions about politics that have been carefully tested and not found wanting; and that an empirically successful rational choice theory would be no more universal than the middle-level theories that they...

The goal of the article is development of conceptual and theoretical grounds of the scientific method of the economic theory and also analysis of its essential characteristics and functional specific features. In order to clarify the essence of the scientific method, the article analyses and...

In philosophy of science, the demarcation problem verifies what is scientific using as a verification criterion 'scientific method'. In this paper, softer rule named 'selective demarcation' that groups problems around criterion of existing measure or minimum principle was used for management...

Remember James Boswell, ninth Laird of Auchinleck, author of the famous maxim that the road to hell is paved with good intentions? Trying to build realistic theories differs dramatically from having correct explanatory theories tested on objective criteria, e.g., verifiable prediction....

One research function is proposing new scientific theories; another is testing the falsifiable predictions of those theories. Eventually, sufficient observations reveal valid predictions. For the impatient, behold statistical methods, which attribute inconsistent predictions to either faulty...