“It is some relief to move from the exalted realm of philosophical ethics to the mundane realm of scientific methodology. However, I rather shy away from discussions of Methodology with a capital M. To paraphrase Shaw: Those who can do science; those who can’t prattle about its methodology.”

— Paul A. Samuelson

“My Life Philosophy: Policy Credos and Working Ways,” in M. Szenberg (ed.) Eminent Economists: Their Life Philosophies (1992)
1980s–1990s

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Paul A. Samuelson 47

American economist 1915–2009

Alan O. Ebenstein (1959) American political scientist, educator and author

Hayek's Journey: The Mind of Friedrich Hayek (2003)

“Investigative practice therefore constitutes an area of considerable anxiety within the discipline of psychology. Concern with questions of methodological orthodoxy often takes the place of concern about theoretical orthodoxy when research or its results are discussed and evaluated. These preoccupations with the purity of method frequently deteriorate to a kind of method fetishism or "methodolatry." From this point of view there may be something distinctly subversive about the suggestion that the sphere of methodology is not a realm of pure reason but an area of human social activity governed by mundane circumstances like any other social activity. Nevertheless, the consequences of this suggestion should be explored, for not to do so exposes one to all the risks entailed by a naive and self-deluded style of scientific practice.”

Kurt Danziger (1926) German academic

Source: Constructing the subject: Historical origins of psychological research. 1994, p. 5-6

“The case of methodology is analogous though less clear. Nobody would object to the subject of methodology being science, or some pseudo science. On closer inspection, however, this agreement is no more than a verbal coincidence. It rests on what is meant by science, as reported as a subject of methodology. In fact the subject methodologists call science is more often than not different from what scientists call science. Methodologists are inclined to consider a science as a linguistic system whereas the scientist would only admit that his science has a language, not that it is a language.”

Hans Freudenthal (1905–1990) Dutch mathematician

Source: Realistic models in probability (1968), p. 1

“science should be question driven, not methodology driven.”

V.S. Ramachandran book The Tell-Tale Brain

The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist's Quest for What Makes Us Human

“The difference between these beliefs and the beliefs of religions is that scientific beliefs are methodological, not propositional…It is the absence of propositional beliefs that distinguishes science from a belief system. There is no proposition of the content of science that is accepted upon belief alone.”

Mordechai Ben-Ari (1948) Israeli computer scientist

Source: Just a Theory: Exploring the Nature of Science (2005), Chapter 3, “Words Scientists Don’t Use: At Least Not the Way You Do” (pp. 51-52)

“Methodological rules are for science what rules of law and custom are for conduct.”

Émile Durkheim (1858–1917) French sociologist (1858-1917)

Source: The Division of Labor in Society (1893), p. 364

“Different methodologies express different rationalities stemming from alternative theoretical positions which they reflect. These alternative positions must be respected, and methodologies and their appropriate theoretical underpinnings developed in partnership.”

Robert L. Flood (1959) British organizational scientist

Source: Creative Problem Solving (1991), p. 47-48; As cited in: Steve Clarke (2001) " Mixing Methods for Organisational Intervention: Background and Current Status http://www.bcs.org/upload/pdf/steve-clarke-paper.pdf"

Mike Jackson (1951) systems scientist

Source: Creative Problem Solving: Total Systems Intervention (1991), p. 47-48; As cited in: Steve Clarke (2001) " Mixing Methods for Organisational Intervention: Background and Current Status http://www.bcs.org/upload/pdf/steve-clarke-paper.pdf"

“The methodology for what I was going to do: ask some questions, get some replies, organize result, choose the best things to do.”

Joe Armstrong (1950–2019) British computer scientist

The Forgotten Ideas in Computer Science

“I don't claim to be a methodologist, but I act like one only because I do methodology to protect myself from crazy methodologists.”

Ward Cunningham (1949) American computer programmer who developed the first wiki

Geek Noise (2004)

“It is some relief to move from the exalted realm of philosophical ethics to the mundane realm of scientific methodology. However, I rather shy away from discussions of Methodology with a capital M. To paraphrase Shaw: Those who can do science; those who can’t prattle about its methodology.”

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Paul A. Samuelson 47

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