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How Science Becomes Religion

One interesting issue with the social sciences is this: You'll often hear people say, "The data show [insert some proposition.]"  Does the data show anything; or do we twist the data to conform to our beliefs?  Let's look at a recent headline: "Survey: Women still earn less than men."  Why doesn't the headline read: "Survey: Women work earn less hard than men."When you begin looking at data with premises that might not be true, the data will show you want you want to see.  Do women work less hard than men do?  If so, then they should earn less than men.  If women work equally hard, then pay disparity would be unjust.Yet the social scientists would have us take it as a matter of faith that women work as hard as men do.  If everyone shares that tenant of faith, then pay disparities are a serious issue...continue to full post

Full post as published by Crime & Federalism on April 29, 2009 (boomark / email).