Thank you for championing the social sciences, which includes my area of study, Political Science! Also, ethnography rocks - in other words, observing and paying close attention is often the best way to figure something out, duh. Data matters, including qualitative data about human behavior. But data can always be manipulated to paint the story you want to tell (cf. lies, damn lies, statistics).
I think for many people it is easier to spot the puppet strings when it's qualitative data about human behavior rather than statistical analysis of quantitative data in a "hard" science. Shady is probably more obvious than math for most so qualitative social science is easier to dismiss. Doesn't mean we don't need the good stuff. Thanks for nerding out on my wavelength!
Thank you for championing the social sciences, which includes my area of study, Political Science! Also, ethnography rocks - in other words, observing and paying close attention is often the best way to figure something out, duh. Data matters, including qualitative data about human behavior. But data can always be manipulated to paint the story you want to tell (cf. lies, damn lies, statistics).
I think for many people it is easier to spot the puppet strings when it's qualitative data about human behavior rather than statistical analysis of quantitative data in a "hard" science. Shady is probably more obvious than math for most so qualitative social science is easier to dismiss. Doesn't mean we don't need the good stuff. Thanks for nerding out on my wavelength!