May 2 reliable socialsciences.docVIP

Breakdown | Death and disarray at Americas racetracks Mangled Horses, Maimed Jockeys The new economics of horse racing are making an always-dangerous game even more so, as lax oversight puts animal and rider at risk. Jakob Schiller for The New York Times A 2-year-old quarter horse named Teller All Gone broke a front leg in a race on Sept. 3 at Ruidoso Downs Race Track in New Mexico and was euthanized. His body was then dumped in a junkyard next to an old toilet at Ruidoso, a short walk from where he had been sold at auction the previous year. May 17, 2012, 9:30 pm How Reliable Are the Social Sciences? By GARY GUTTING Public policy debates often involve appeals to results of work in social sciences like economics and sociology.? For example, in his State of the Union address this year, President Obama cited a recent high-profile study to support his emphasis on evaluating teachers by their students’ test scores.? The study purportedly shows that students with teachers who raise their standardized test scores are “more likely to attend college, earn higher salaries, live in better neighborhoods and save more for retirement.” How much authority should we give to such work in our policy decisions?? The question is important because media reports often seem to assume that any result presented as “scientific” has a claim to our serious attention. But this is hardly a reasonable view.? There is considerable distance between, say, the confidence we should place in astronomers’ calculations of eclipses and a small marketing study suggesting that consumers prefer laundry soap in blue boxes. A rational assessment of a scientific result must first take account of the broader context of the particular science involved.? Where does the result lie on the continuum from preliminary studies, designed to suggest further directions of research, to maximally supported conclusions of the science?? In physics, for example, there is the difference between early calculations positing