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Less Theory, More Observation: A Response to Psychology's ‘Theory Crisis’
Runner-up in the Philosophy Essay Prize Competition 2023
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 March 2025
Abstract
There is a worry within psychology that its researchers experience too many degrees of freedom in formulating their hypotheses, resulting in experiments being designed to test implausible hypotheses which then do not successfully replicate. A popular diagnosis of this problem is that psychological theories are too vaguely specified, and that formalising them will add the constraints necessary to solve the problem. This paper argues for a different strategy, namely, for more theory-lite observational research to be conducted. This appears antithetical to the restraint urged by others, but I argue that it is a necessary precursor to forming well-established foundational theories. I discuss two case studies to support my arguments.
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- Copyright © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Royal Institute of Philosophy
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