1) Isolate the pros, isolate the cons. 2) Establish how to measure each. 3) Make detailed study to quantify pros and cons. 4) Sum pros and cons. Step 2 is p

1) Isolate the pros, isolate the cons. 2) Establish how to measure each. 3) Make detailed study to quantify pros and cons. 4) Sum pros and cons. Step 2 is probably the hardest to find a common ground where both sides would agree on. Step 3 would be lengthier and most expensive. But if steps 1, 3 and 4 are done with scientific scrutiny, peer reviewed and reproducible. Then it's just a matter of each interest party adjust step 2 to whatever they agree on. For software patents, I'm pretty sure you'd have to be so naive to believe the pros outweigh the cons that most of the anti-patent won't even bother going deeper. And most of the pro-patent wouldn't dare trying. Sure I would rather have a good study with a large data sample. But the anecdotes we see every day as developers, are so obviously biased to show patents are a net negative. That I doubt many of us would think a bigger data sample would revert that. At the end of the day, this isn't a problem of lack of scientific method, but a problem of individual interests having a louder voice than the interest of most.