Light Along the Journey is quickly becoming one of my favorite blogs, and today’s post bumped it up a few favorite points!

That’s why I am a little skeptical of most sociological research.  Every week there is a new study that tracks some social phenomenon, whether it be stay at home moms or same sex marriages or divorces or yo-yo usage among geeks.  But if I can’t always tell for sure about about the effects of a drug using a tightly controlled double-blinded study, how reliable is the information in often poorly constructed short term observational studies?  I don’t want to know the effects of divorce five years from now or ten years from now, but a hundred years from now.

In other words, to reach reliable conclusions regarding the effect of anything in human culture, you would need experiments that would be impossible to construct and take decades to complete.  You just can’t base private convictions or public policy on such weak data as sociological research can provide.

His conclusion is, of course, the best part. But I won’t spoil it for you. Go read it!

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