scholarly journals Why postmortems fail

2022 ◽  
Vol 119 (3) ◽  
pp. e2116638118
Author(s):  
Robert Jervis
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Comparative Method ◽  
Warning Signs ◽  
Science Methods ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Cognitive Closure ◽  
High Profile ◽  
Initial Failure ◽  
Social Science Methods ◽  
The Us

Most high-profile disasters are followed by demands for an investigation into what went wrong. Even before they start, calls for finding the missed warning signs and an explanation for why people did not “connect the dots” will be common. Unfortunately, however, the same combination of political pressures and the failure to adopt good social science methods that contributed to the initial failure usually lead to postmortems that are badly flawed. The high stakes mean that powerful actors will have strong incentives to see that certain conclusions are—and are not—drawn. Most postmortems also are marred by strong psychological biases, especially the assumption that incorrect inferences must have been the product of wrong ways of thinking, premature cognitive closure, the naive use of hindsight, and the neglect of the comparative method. Given this experience, I predict that the forthcoming inquiries into the January 6, 2021, storming of the US Capitol and the abrupt end to the Afghan government will stumble in many ways.

Conclusions, Responses to Objections, and Scholarly Recommendations

2019 ◽  
pp. 240-256
Author(s):  
Michael C. Desch
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Real World ◽  
Vested Interest ◽  
Science Methods ◽  
Intellectual Culture ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Social Science Methods ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
To Come ◽  
Policy Problems

This concluding chapter evaluates the increasing tendency of many social scientists to embrace methods and models for their own sake rather than because they can help people answer substantively important questions. This inclination is in part the result of the otherwise normal and productive workings of science but is also reinforced by less positive factors such as organizational self-interest and intellectual culture. As a result of the latter, many political scientists have committed themselves to particular social science methods not so much because they believe they will illuminate real-world policy problems but because they serve a vested interest in disciplinary autonomy and dovetail with a particular image of what a “science” of politics should look like. In other words, the professionalization of social science is the root of the enduring relevance question. The chapter then offers some concrete suggestions for how to reestablish the balance between rigor and relevance in the years to come.

Reflections on the Achievements of Sidney Verba

The Forum ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristi Andersen
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Representative Democracy ◽  
Science Methods ◽  
Complex Theory ◽  
Social Science Methods ◽  
Distinguished Career ◽  
Democratic Systems

AbstractSidney Verba’s distinguished career, particularly his books, demonstrate a talent for finding superb collaborators, a deep normative concern about the health of civil society, and a commitment to using social science methods to understand the working of democratic systems. A re-reading of these books shows the development of an increasingly complex theory of political participation undergirding a complex portrait of American representative democracy, with all its flaws and strengths.

scholarly journals SENGKETA TANAH EKS KERAJAAN DI KOTAWARINGIN BARAT PROVINSI KALIMANTAN TENGAH

2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 25
Author(s):  
I Gusti Ayu Gangga Santi Dewi
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
The State ◽  
Land Policy ◽  
Science Methods ◽  
Social Science Methods ◽  
And Shifts

Conflicts that ended in court disputes often occurred in the former Kotaringin Kingdom related to the former kingdom lands. Phenomenon of substantive injustice related to former kingdom land policy in the Dictum Fourth letter A UUPA which abolishes former kingdom land and shifts to the State, is an injustice felt by  former kingdom parties. Research with the Socio Legal approach with social science methods and theories about law. This research was focused on looking at the facts of the conflict that ended in court disputes and the solution to prevent the disputes of former kingdom land in Kotawaringin Barat.

Social Science History: Citation Record, 1976–1985

1988 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-215
Author(s):  
Aage R. Clausen ◽  
Jaushieh Joseph Wu
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Historical Data ◽  
Science Methods ◽  
Major Purpose ◽  
Science History ◽  
Founding Fathers ◽  
Social Science Methods ◽  
Social Science History ◽  
Research And Teaching

In a recent article in Social Science History, Professor Alan Bogue, former president of the Association and one of its founding fathers, has reviewed the first ten years of SSHA. In it he presents from the constitution the major purpose of the Association as “improving ‘the quality of historical explanation in every manner possible, but particularly by encouraging the selective use and adaptation in historical research and teaching of relevant social science’” (Bogue, 1987: 336). In this paper, we review the first ten years of the Social Science History journal in the context of an association formed to promote social science applications to the analysis of historical data. One indicator of the success of this enterprise is the extent to which historians are applying social science methods. Another indicator is the involvement of non-historians in social science history.

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