I was just reading a related article in economics. From that article (warning, while the topic is general, it uses minimum wage research as an example): It is

I was just reading a related article in economics. From that article (warning, while the topic is general, it uses minimum wage research as an example): It is indisputable that a theory that is inconsistent with empirical data is a poor theory. No theory should be accepted merely because of the beauty of its logic or because it leads to conclusions that are ideologically welcome or politically convenient. Yet it is naive in the extreme to suppose that facts – especially the facts of the social sciences – speak for themselves. Not only is it true that sound analysis is unavoidably a judgment-laden mix of rigorous reasoning (“theory”) with careful observation of the facts; it is also true that the facts themselves are in large part the product of theorizing. ... No one who reads this work – and there’s plenty of it – can possibly decide, based on the data alone, whether minimum-wage legislation does or does not reduce the employment options of low-skilled workers. It’s not just that the conclusions drawn from the empirical evidence differ wildly. It’s more that coming to a conclusion requires reasoning about - theorizing about – the data. These data (like all data) do not speak for themselves. It’s just not what data do. http://cafehayek.com/2015/04/theorizing-about-the-facts-theres-no-escaping-theory.html http://cafehayek.com/2015/04/theorizing-about-the-facts-ther...