The Scientific Method
by J Scott Armstrong and Kesten C Green
Cambridge University Press, £22.99
 

MANY years ago, as a researcher in computer-based learning, I witnessed the corrosive impact of corporate interference in academic research. Projects were distorted by interpersonal rivalry, institutional bullying and obsessive career management.

These pressures continue to affect the acquisition of knowledge and are worthy of the kind of serious investigation promised – but not delivered – by The Scientific Method. The book is pitched as an antidote to the cognitive biases and socio-economic influences that undermine the value and validity of science; unfortunately, it is riddled with precisely the kind of careless thinking it rails against.

Armstrong and Green proclaim the importance of objectivity in science, while peppering their guidelines for scientists, educators and journalists with subjective concepts and clunky anecdotes.