Reacting to the original papers outlining the importance of “social mechanisms,” thispaper contrasts two views of the social process, the mechanismal and the relational. In the sourceshere analyzed, the mechanismal perspective is largely based on methodological individualismand generally presupposes rational, or at least intentional, action. A fundamental assumption ofthis appro...

Randomised trials vary in methodological quality, and flaws in trial conduct can lead to biased estimation of the intervention effect. If a meta-analysis makes no allowance for methodological flaws, there’s a danger that the results could be biased and over-precise, or that some lowerquality trials could be given too much influence in the meta-analysis. Cochrane review authors now use a specifi...

This article presents a theoretical foundation for marketing based on the ideas of the Austrian school of economists. After a discussion of the methodological foundations of Austrian economics, which reject the statistical and experimental methods of the physical sciences as the means to verify theory in the social sciences, the article presents the Austrians' principle of methodological indivi...

Intelligent Design Theory (ID) has been much maligned recently as Neo-Creationist pseudoscience. This paper looks briefly at the common arguments used against ID, including arguments from methodological naturalism (MN), falsifiability, productivity, and religious fundamentalism. Ultimately it goes on to explain why the theory could be beneficial to our society today and suggests a need for a me...

INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................. 239 I. BACKGROUND ON THE FISA COURT AND THE CHIEF JUSTICE’S APPOINTMENT POWERS ............................................................................................................... 243 II. METHODOLOGICAL CHOICES ........................................................

Mobile devices, applications and services have become integrated into people's daily lives on a personal and professional level. Although traditional research methods are being used to understand the use of mobile devices and applications, methodological challenges still exist. Researchers have responded to these challenges in a variety of ways, with an emphasis on developing methods that enabl...

Title: Undertaking a randomised controlled trial in the police setting: methodological and practical challenges Authors: Arabella Scantlebury ([email protected]) Catriona McDaid ([email protected]) Alison Booth ([email protected]) Caroline Fairhurst ([email protected]) Adwoa Parker ([email protected]) Rebecca Payne ([email protected]) Helen Reed (...