How Practical is Critique? From Matters of Concern to Matters of Commitment

A Critique of Instrumentalism: Why realism matters

Instrumentalism is the dominant methodological position amongst orthodox economists, which holds that realism of the theories is irrelevant. This paper challenges this view, arguing that the standard instrumentalist defence of abstract theories is inapplicable when the goal of the analysis is not prediction. Moreover, it demonstrates that the good empirical performance does not confer legitimac...

Size matters: just how big is BIG?

BACKGROUND Despite earlier doubts, a string of recent successes indicates that if sample sizes are large enough, it is possible-both in theory and in practice-to identify and replicate genetic associations with common complex diseases. But human genome epidemiology is expensive and, from a strategic perspective, it is still unclear what 'large enough' really means. This question has critical im...

Why Learning How to Chase Butterflies Matters: A Response to Recent Commentaries

How noise matters

Recent advances in evolutionary game theory have employed stochastic processes of noise in decisionmaking to select in favor of certain equilibria in coordination games. Noisy decisionmaking is justi ed on bounded rationality grounds, and consequently the sources of noise are left unmodelled. This methodological approach can only be successful if the results do not depend too much on the nature...

How Text Matters

In this quasi-experimental study, which is part of a series of investigations on supplemental reading tutoring variations, the relative effectiveness of more intense decoding instruction or text reading practice was examined. Fifty-seven first-grade students scoring in the lowest quartile for reading skills received either classroom reading instruction or one of two treatments: tutoring in word...