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Investigating the Psychological World
Life and Mind: Philosophical Issues in Biology and Psychology
Kim Sterelny and Robert A. Wilson, Series Editors

Investigating the Psychological World: Scientific Method in the Behavioral Sci-

ences, Brian D. Haig, 2014
Evolution in Four Dimensions: Genetic, Epigenetic, Behavioral, and Symbolic
Variation in the History of Life, revised edition, Eva Jablonka and Marion J.
Lamb, 2014
Cooperation and Its Evolution, Kim Sterelny, Richard Joyce, Brett Calcott, and
Ben Fraser, editors, 2013
Ingenious Genes: How Gene Regulation Networks Evolve to Control Develop-
ment, Roger Sansom, 2011
Yuck! The Nature and Moral Significance of Disgust, Daniel Kelly, 2011
Laws, Mind, and Free Will, Steven Horst, 2011
Perplexities of Consciousness, Eric Schwitzgebel, 2011
Humanity’s End: Why We Should Reject Radical Enhancement, Nicholas Agar,
2010
Color Ontology and Color Science, Jonathan Cohen and Mohan Matthen, edi-
tors, 2010
The Extended Mind, Richard Menary, editor, 2010
The Native Mind and the Cultural Construction of Nature, Scott Atran and
Douglas Medin, 2008
Describing Inner Experience? Proponent Meets Skeptic, Russell T. Hurlburt and
Eric Schwitzgebel, 2007
Evolutionary Psychology as Maladapted Psychology, Robert C. Richardson, 2007
The Evolution of Morality, Richard Joyce, 2006
Evolution in Four Dimensions: Genetic, Epigenetic, Behavioral, and Symbolic
Variation in the History of Life, Eva Jablonka and Marion J. Lamb, 2005
Molecular Models of Life: Philosophical Papers on Molecular Biology, Sahotra
Sarkar, 2005
The Mind Incarnate, Lawrence A. Shapiro, 2004
Organisms and Artifacts: Design in Nature and Elsewhere, Tim Lewens, 2004
Seeing and Visualizing: It’s Not What You Think, Zenon W. Pylyshyn, 2003
Evolution and Learning: The Baldwin Effect Reconsidered, Bruce H. Weber and
David J. Depew, editors, 2003
The New Phrenology: The Limits of Localizing Cognitive Processes in the Brain,
William R. Uttal, 2001
Cycles of Contingency: Developmental Systems and Evolution, Susan Oyama,
Paul E. Griffiths, and Russell D. Gray, editors, 2001
Coherence in Thought and Action, Paul Thagard, 2000
Investigating the Psychological World
Scientific Method in the Behavioral Sciences

Brian D. Haig

A Bradford Book
The MIT Press
Cambridge, Massachusetts
London, England
© 2014 Massachusetts Institute of Technology

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic
or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and re-
trieval) without permission in writing from the publisher.

MIT Press books may be purchased at special quantity discounts for business or sales pro-
motional use. For information, please email [email protected].

This book was set in Sabon LT Std by Toppan Best-set Premedia Limited, Hong Kong.
Printed and bound in the United States of America.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Haig, Brian D., 1945–.

Investigating the psychological world : scientific method in the behavioral sciences / Brian
D. Haig.
pages cm.—(Life and mind : philosophical issues in biology and psychology) (A
Bradford book)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-262-02736-6 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Psychology—Research—Methodology. I. Title.
BF76.5.H335 2014
150.72'1—dc23
2013032413

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
The attempt to understand and improve methods, and to do so via theorizing
them, is at the center of an intelligently evolving cognition.
—Clifford Hooker (1987, 291)

Above all, if a raised standard of education in methods is to be achieved, it is

necessary to engender, beyond any knowledge of particular skills and formulae
as such, a perspective as to what methods are most appropriate to various areas
and occasions.
—Raymond Cattell (1966, 5)
Contents

Preface ix
Acknowledgments xvii

1 Method, Methodology, and Realism 1

1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 Criticisms of the Idea of Scientific Method 2
1.3 Four Theories of Scientific Method 5
1.4 The Nature of Methodology 11
1.5 Scientific Realism 17
1.6 An Overview of the Abductive Theory of Method 23
1.7 Conclusion 29

2 Detecting Psychological Phenomena 31

2.1 Introduction 31
2.2 The Nature of Phenomena 32
2.3 Procedures for Phenomena Detection 37
2.4 Reasoning from Data to Phenomena 43
2.5 Phenomena Detection and the Nature of Psychological
Science 45
2.6 Implications for Psychological Research 50
2.7 Conclusion 57

3 Theory Generation: Exploratory Factor Analysis 59

3.1 Introduction 59
3.2 The Inferential Nature of Exploratory Factor Analysis 60
3.3 Common Factor Analysis and Scientific Method 71
viii Contents

3.4 Exploratory Factor Analysis, Phenomena Detection, and

Explanatory Theories 73
3.5 Exploratory Factor Analysis and Confirmatory Factor
Analysis 79
3.6 Summary and Conclusion 84

4 Theory Development: Analogical Modeling 87

4.1 Introduction 87
4.2 Types of Models 89
4.3 Data, Models, and Theories 91
4.4 The Functions of Models 93
4.5 Modeling in ATOM 95
4.6 Analogical Modeling 97
4.7 Analogical Abduction 100
4.8 The Dramaturgical Model 102
4.9 Conclusion 104

5 Theory Appraisal: Inference to the Best Explanation 105

5.1 Introduction 105
5.2 Inference to the Best Explanation 107
5.3 Two Criticisms of Inference to the Best Explanation 118
5.4 Inference to the Best Explanation and Other Methods of
Theory Appraisal 121
5.5 The Proper Scope of Inference to the Best Explanation 127
5.6 Implications for Psychology 129
5.7 Conclusion 131

6 Conclusion 133
6.1 Introduction 133
6.2 A Coda on Scientific Problems 133
6.3 Two Fundamental Commitments of ATOM 137
6.4 Phenomena Detection and Theory Construction Again 138
6.5 Two Applications of ATOM 141
6.6 ATOM Defended and Clarified 147
6.7 Scientific Method and Education 158
6.8 Final Word 160

Notes 163
References 171
Index 189
Preface

Although modern science is made up of many parts, scientific method is

its centerpiece. The centrality of method to science stems from the fact
that it provides scientists with the primary form of guidance in their quest
to obtain knowledge about the world. As fallible inquirers, scientists face
immense challenges in their efforts to learn about the complexities of
nature. In good part, these challenges are met through the use of methods,
which provide scientists with the cognitive assistance that they need to
undertake successful inquiry.
However, despite its undoubted importance, scientific method receives
less considered attention than it deserves, from both scientists and educa-
tors. Of course, scientists take method seriously, but I believe that they
do not take it seriously enough. Scientists themselves, including psycholo-
gists, learn about research methods and how to use them to conduct their
research. However, the nature of this learning, and of the instruction they
receive about how to employ these methods, is better described as a mix
of training and indoctrination than as a genuine education designed to
provide a critical, in-depth understanding of the methods. Although
professional science educators sometimes promote the importance of the
epistemological foundations of scientific method, the influence of this
source of learning on the regular teaching of research methods is minimal.
Psychology, which provides extensively in its curriculum for teaching
research methods, uses textbooks that make little or no effort to inform
students in depth about the nature of scientific method. Nor does its
curriculum foster a critical appreciation of the various research methods
that its textbooks deal with. Consequently both psychological scientists
and psychology students tend to have a limited understanding of scien-
tific method, which in turn contributes to a misuse of research methods
and a suboptimal level of scientific literacy.
x Preface

I think that the missing key in this educational failure is scientific

methodology. Methodology is the domain officially charged with foster-
ing the evolution and understanding of scientific methods, and it is our
official repository of knowledge about those methods. Scientific meth-
odology is not the exclusive domain of any particular discipline. Rather,
it is a central part of cognitive theory, which is itself regarded as an
interdisciplinary endeavor. It spans the domains of statistics, the philoso-
phy of science, the sociology of science, the various disciplines of cogni-
tive science, and more; but it is reducible to none of them. As a practical
endeavor, methodology is concerned with the mutual adjustment of
means and ends. It judges whether methods are sufficiently effective for
reaching certain goals. But methodology is also critically aim oriented
and considers what goals the research enterprise should pursue. Clearly
no single discipline can realistically aspire to cover all the tasks of
methodology.
The methodological literature in psychology is dominated by the field
of statistics. Quantitative methods receive the large majority of attention
in both research methods textbooks and research practice. Qualitative
research methods are regarded as a poor cousin and remain on the
margins of methodology, although there are signs that they are gaining
some acceptance. As important as statistical methods are to science,
they cannot be all that there is to scientific method. Consequently the
clarion call for statisticians to be the purveyors of scientific method
(e.g., Marquardt, 1987) is inappropriate. The guiding assumption of
this book is that treating scientific method with the seriousness it
deserves requires taking scientific methodology seriously. I do this by
giving special consideration to behavioral science methodology, the phi-
losophy of science, and statistical theory. Thus the book is interdisciplin-
ary in nature.
The philosophy of science figures more prominently in this book
than is usual for methodology texts. The reason for this emphasis is
that contemporary philosophy of science contains an array of important
methodological insights that are impossible to ignore when coming to
grips with scientific method. In recent years, philosophy of science
has increasingly sought to understand science as it is practiced, and
although it has much work to do in this regard, it now has important
things to say about how science is, and should be, conducted. As part
of this concern with scientific practice, philosophers of science have
given increased attention to research methods in science. A positive
development in this regard has been the focus on the methodology of
 Preface xi

experimentation over the last thirty years, although the methodology of

theory construction remains the dominant focus in the philosophy of
science.
Of late, philosophers of science have also shown a willingness to deal
with methodological issues in sciences other than physics. Biology has
been the major beneficiary, although psychology has received some philo-
sophical attention. There is, then, a developing literature in contempo-
rary philosophy of science that can aid both our understanding and our
use of research methods and strategies in psychology (e.g., Trout, 1998).
At the same time, a small number of theoretically oriented behavioral
and social science methodologists have produced work on the conceptual
foundations of research methods that helps illuminate those methods.
Thus the work of both professional philosophers of science and theoreti-
cal scientists should be included in a philosophical examination of behav-
ioral research methods.
Three major philosophies of science are of particular relevance to
psychology: empiricism, social constructionism, and scientific realism
(Greenwood, 1992; Manicas & Secord, 1983). Nineteenth-century
British empiricism had a major influence on the development of British
statistics in the first half of the twentieth century (Mulaik, 1985). The
statistical methods developed in that intellectual milieu remain an impor-
tant part of psychology’s statistical research practice. For example, Karl
Pearson’s product moment correlation coefficient was taken by its
founder to be the quantitative expression of a causal relation viewed in
empiricist terms. Similarly, Ronald Fisher’s endorsement of inductive
method as the proper view of scientific method stemmed from a com-
mitment to the empiricism of his day. Even in today’s postpositivist
philosophical climate, authors of research methods textbooks sometimes
portray quantitative research as essentially positivist in its empiricist
commitments (see Yu, 2006). The traditional empiricist outlook is much
too limiting because it restricts its attention to what can be observed,
and regards theories merely as instruments that organize claims about
observables.
For their part, qualitative methodologists tend to bolster their pre-
ferred conception of qualitative research by comparing it with an unflat-
tering positivist picture of quantitative research. At the same time, they
frequently adopt a philosophy of social constructionism that is expressed
in an implausibly strong form. This form is opposed to the traditional
notions of truth, objectivity, and reason and maintains that our under-
standing of the world is determined by social negotiation. Such a view
xii Preface

of social constructionism tends to be employed by those who are opposed

or indifferent to quantitative methods. It is a view at odds with the
philosophical outlook adopted in this book.
In what follows, I adopt a scientific realist perspective on research
methods. Although the subject of considerable debate, and opposed by
many antirealist positions, scientific realism is the dominant philosophy
of science today. In addition, a commonsense version of realism seems
to be the tacit philosophy of most working scientists. With its increas-
ingly heavy emphasis on the nature of scientific practice, the philosophy
of scientific realism is becoming a philosophy for science, not just a
philosophy of science. Scientific realism is, in fact, a family of positions,
and in chapter 1, I sketch a view of realism that I think is appropriate
for psychology. Scientific realism boasts a rich conception of methodol-
ogy, which can be of considerable help in understanding and guiding
behavioral science research. It is a methodology that is at once natural-
istic, problem focused, and aim oriented. It also promotes both generative
and consequentialist reasoning, and the importance of justifying knowl-
edge claims on both reliabilist and coherentist grounds. The influence of
this conception of methodology occurs throughout the book.
In this book, I take psychology’s commitment to scientific method very
seriously. I do this principally by constructing a broad theory of scientific
method, which is genuinely informed by insights in contemporary scien-
tific methodology and speaks to the conduct of psychological research.
This account of method I call the abductive theory of method (hereafter
ATOM) in recognition of the importance it assigns to explanatory rea-
soning. In contrast to the popular hypothetico-deductive method, ATOM
portrays research as a bottom-up process comprising two broad phases.
The first phase involves the detection of phenomena, such as empirical
generalizations. The second phase involves the construction of explana-
tory theories to explain claims about the phenomena. The book draws
from the “new experimentalism” (Ackerman, 1989) in philosophy of
science to help illuminate the process of phenomena detection. It also
examines in detail different abductive methods of theory construction,
drawing, where appropriate, from the varied philosophical literature on
abductive reasoning: the widely used method of exploratory factor analy-
sis is presented as an abductive method of theory generation; the strategy
of analogical modeling is presented as an abductive approach to theory
development; and the neglected method of inference to the best explana-
tion, particularly the theory of explanatory coherence, is presented as an
appropriate method of theory appraisal.
 Preface xiii

An important feature of ATOM is that it functions as a broad frame-

work theory within which a variety of more specific research methods
can be located and employed. A coherent treatment of those methods
is enhanced by placing them within the framework of ATOM. In turn,
the specific methods help give ATOM a good deal of its operational
detail. A number of the specific methods I refer to are well known to
behavioral scientists, but some are not. Psychology has tended to empha-
size data analytic methods at the expense of methods of theory construc-
tion. However, ATOM assigns equal importance to the two classes of
method.
A subsidiary focus of this book is a concern with science education
in relation to behavioral research methods. It follows John Dewey’s
(1910) lead and suggests that we adopt an inquiry-oriented conception
of education that accords an important place to scientific method. The
narrow nature of, and uncritical approach to, the teaching and use of
research methods in psychology are highlighted in some of the chapters.
The need to teach for a more critical understanding of research methods
is a natural consequence of acknowledging the importance of the domain
of research methodology. In light of the requirements of a genuine liberal
education, I make constructive proposals for reforming the methods cur-
riculum. The nature of ATOM and its methodological foundations shape
many of these curriculum proposals.
Chapter 1 introduces the topic of scientific method by providing some
background material to better appreciate the more focused discussion of
method in the ensuing chapters. I begin by briefly considering the idea
of scientific method and different criticisms that have been leveled against
it. Next I outline and provisionally assess four prominent theories of
scientific method. I then move to a consideration of the nature of scien-
tific methodology before providing a selective overview of the key ele-
ments of the philosophy of scientific realism. Finally, I present a brief
overview of ATOM to provide a conceptual framework for locating and
better understanding the various methods and strategies examined in the
book.
Chapter 2 draws from the new experimentalism in the philosophy of
science so as to reconstruct the important process of phenomena detec-
tion as it applies to psychology. In doing so, I propose a four-stage model
of data analysis. The model begins with the initial examination of data,
proceeds in turn through exploratory and confirmatory data analytic
phases, and finishes with the stage of constructive replication. The three-
fold distinction between data, phenomena, and explanatory theory is
xiv Preface

drawn, and its implications for understanding the nature of psychological

science are spelled out.
Chapter 3 considers the abductive nature of theory generation by
examining the logic and purpose of the method of exploratory factor
analysis. I argue that the common factors that result from using this
method are not fictions but latent variables, which are best understood
as genuine theoretical entities. I support this realist interpretation of
factors by showing that exploratory factor analysis is an abductive gen-
erator of elementary theories that exploits an important heuristic of
scientific methodology known as the principle of the common cause.
Science uses many different approaches to modeling. In chapter 4, I
selectively examine one important approach to scientific modeling, ana-
logical modeling. The strategy of analogical modeling is adopted by
ATOM as its chief means of theory development. Accordingly, I spell out
here the structure of analogical models and the use of analogical abduc-
tive reasoning both to expand and to evaluate the plausibility of models.
Chapter 5 recommends the use of inference to the best explanation
for evaluating the worth of theories in psychology. I suggest that it is a
more appropriate account of theory appraisal than both the popular
hypothetico-deductive method and the widely heralded Bayesian
approach. I discuss a number of different explications of inference to the
best explanation, in particular the theory of explanatory coherence,
which is the most detailed extant explication of inference to the best
explanation.
The concluding chapter rounds out the extended characterization of
ATOM. First I outline an account of the nature of research problems,
and then I discuss the nature and limits of ATOM. This is followed by
applications of ATOM to grounded theory method and to clinical rea-
soning. Toward the end of the chapter, I offer some thoughts about the
importance of methodology for understanding research methods. The
book concludes with some brief remarks about the future prospects for
ATOM.
The methodology of the behavioral sciences is a subject of relative
neglect in professional philosophy of science. Thus my hope is that this
book will be welcomed by those in the philosophical community who
want to learn about an important set of methodological practices in one
of the interesting special sciences. Conversely, I would like to think that
the book contains material that will enable psychological researchers to
deepen their conceptual appreciation of a variety of research methods
and associated methodological matters and thereby contribute to the
 Preface xv

conduct of sound psychological research. Although the book’s primary

focus is on psychology, I believe its contents are relevant to the behavioral
sciences more generally.
Finally, I draw the reader’s attention to two matters. First, it is some-
times important to distinguish between scientific method as a theoretical
understanding of an inquiry procedure and scientific method as a mate-
rial practice. Given the book’s primary concern with ATOM, it mostly
focuses on a theoretical understanding of method. Second, I have endeav-
ored to keep abbreviations to a minimum. However, for convenience, I
abbreviate the abductive theory of method as ATOM throughout the
book. I also use abbreviations for exploratory factor analysis and infer-
ence to the best explanation in their respective chapters.
Acknowledgments

In the mid-1990s, Hillary Clinton argued that it takes a village to raise a

child. The assertion occasioned a skeptical response from a number of
quarters, but there can be no doubting the claim that it takes a village to
raise a book. This book is no exception, for it has depended on the support
of many people, and a number of institutions, over several decades.
Although my interest in scientific method spans more than forty years,
the book project that became Investigating the Psychological World
began in earnest in the second half of 2011 while I was on study leave
with Denny Borsboom at the University of Amsterdam. I am grateful to
Denny for his stimulating intellectual hospitality during that time, and
for opportunities to collaborate with him in recent years and benefit from
his versatile mind.
My interest in abductive reasoning began in the mid-1960s when I
read the remarkable Charles Peirce’s unpopular ideas on education, and
was kindled when I started to acquaint myself with some of his work on
science. That interest was nourished in the early 1970s by my doctoral
supervisor, Bill Rozeboom, who was one of the first psychologists
to appreciate the importance of abductive reasoning in science. Bill’s
critical acumen as a technically accomplished theoretical psychologist
has helped shape my thinking on a number of methodological issues in
psychology.
More recently, the work of a number of contemporary philosophers
of science has been invaluable in helping me understand some of the
complexities and subtleties of scientific methodology. In this regard,
the following individuals deserve special mention: Tom Nickles for his
richly suggestive writing on scientific method and scientific discovery;
Jim Woodward and Jim Bogen for their instructive conceptualization of
xviii Acknowledgments

the process of phenomena detection; Rom Harré for his insightful depic-
tion of the use of models and analogies in science; and Paul Thagard for
his writing on inference to the best explanation, in particular his theory
of explanatory coherence, which I regard as a major methodological
accomplishment. I judge these philosophers as seminal thinkers on the
topics just mentioned, and their influence on what I have to say about
scientific method will be obvious to the reader.
Other people have also helped me develop ideas about research
methods, including Adrienne Alton-Lee, Paul Barrett, Neville Blampied,
Russil Durrant, Cameron Ellis, Colin Evers, Garth Fletcher, David Funder,
James Grice, Deak Helton, Stephen Hill, Hugh Lauder, Tom Maguire,
Dannette Marie, Keith Markus, Joel Michell, Katharina Näswall, Claire
O’Loughlin, Denis Phillips, Robert Proctor, Vivianne Robinson, Bruce
Ryan, Ken Strongman, Anton Turner, Tony Ward, Juliane Wilcke, and
Brad Woods. Although I have profited from my interactions with all these
people, two of them deserve special mention. David Funder has strongly
supported my writing on method, and more besides. As a prominent
empirical researcher in personality and social psychology, his belief that
I am on the right track, methodologically speaking, has been reassuring.
I have also benefited considerably from Keith Markus’s intellectual gen-
erosity and his ability to conceptualize methodological issues in behav-
ioral research methods in an insightful manner.
My greatest debt of gratitude is to my wife, Fran Vertue, who has
nourished and sustained me for sixteen good years. Her constant intel-
lectual companionship has contributed in innumerable ways to the devel-
opment of this book and other writing projects.
I thank Kim Sterelny and Rob Wilson for deciding that a book on the
methodology of the behavioral sciences belonged in their MIT Press
series Life and Mind. I am grateful to Philip Laughlin, senior acquisitions
editor in philosophy and cognitive science at MIT Press, for his expert
guidance on this project. Judy Feldmann, senior editor at MIT Press, gave
valuable help in the final preparation of the manuscript.
Fran Vertue, Ken Strongman, and Brad Miles read a complete draft
of the book and gave me very helpful feedback. Brad also assisted in
preparing the manuscript for submission.
The material in chapters 2, 3, and 5 draws heavily from previously
published papers. Other chapters use short excerpts from additional
published work. I am grateful to the publishers of the following articles
for permission to use material contained in them:
 Acknowledgments xix

Haig, B. D. (1987). Scientific problems and the conduct of research.

Educational Philosophy and Theory, 19, 22–32.
Haig, B. D. (1996). Grounded theory as scientific method. In A. Neiman
(Ed.), Philosophy of education 1995: Current issues (pp. 281–290).
Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
Haig, B. D. (2005a). An abductive theory of scientific method. Psycho-
logical Methods, 10, 371–388.
Haig, B. D. (2005b). Exploratory factor analysis, theory generation, and
scientific method. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 40, 303–329.
Haig, B. D. (2008). On the permissiveness of the abductive theory of
method. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 64, 1037–1045.
Haig, B. D. (2009). Inference to the best explanation: A neglected
approach to theory appraisal in psychology. American Journal of Psy-
chology, 122, 219–234.
Haig, B. D. (2013). Detecting psychological phenomena: Taking bottom-
up research seriously. American Journal of Psychology, 126, 135–153.
Vertue, F. M., & Haig, B. D. (2008). An abductive perspective on clinical
reasoning and case formulation. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 64,
1046–1068.
1 Method, Methodology, and Realism

Epistemology without contact with science becomes an empty scheme. Science

without epistemology is—insofar as it is thinkable at all—primitive and muddled.
—Albert Einstein (1949, 683–684)

1.1 Introduction

Modern science is a complex human endeavor comprising many parts.

It articulates aims that it seeks to realize; it employs methods to facilitate
its investigations; it produces facts and theories in its quest to obtain an
understanding of the world; and it is shaped by the institutions within
which it is embedded. Although all these dimensions are essential to a
full-bodied characterization of science, method is arguably its most
important feature. This is because everything we know in science is
acquired in good part through the application of its methods, whether
it be our knowledge of substantive matters, values, or the methods them-
selves. Method really matters to science.
Although method is vitally important to the conduct of science, dis-
cussion of the topic is not particularly fashionable. There are a number
of possible reasons for this. One is that some people think there is no
such thing as scientific method, or at most that there is very little to
scientific method; others think it cannot be given an illuminating char-
acterization; and still others think it is a complex investigative skill that
is tacitly acquired by scientists in the course of learning their craft.
Attitudes such as these have some currency because scientists themselves
learn very little about scientific methodology in their formal science
education. Instead they tend to acquire an operational facility with a
small number of “tried and proven” methods that have been judged to
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