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Defining psychological maltreatment: A prelude to research or an outcome of research?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 October 2008

Jeffrey J. Haugaard*
Affiliation:
Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Cornell University
*
Address reprint requests to: Jeffrey J. Haugaard, Department of Human Development and Family Studies, MVR Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853.

Extract

In commenting on the controversy surrounding the nomination of Samuel Huntington to the National Academy of Sciences, Diamond (1987) noted the disparate problems faced by scientists as they operationalize the concepts they use in their research. Diamond proposed that the process of operationalization was much more complex in the “soft” social sciences than in the “hard” physical sciences. Based on the level of this complexity, he concluded that the dichotomization of the sciences into hard and soft was incorrect. He suggested that they should be classified as hard and easy, with the social sciences comprising the hard category and the physical sciences the easy category.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

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