He is
in the nature of things far more responsible, and far less certain.
But more than that. In the laboratory sciences the student has
conquered the dilemma of thought and action. He brings a sample of the
action to a quiet place, where it can be repeated at will, and
examined at leisure. But the social scientist is constantly being
impaled on a dilemma. If he stays in his library, where he has the
leisure to think, he has to rely upon the exceedingly casual and
meager printed record that comes to him through official reports,
newspapers, and interviews. If he goes out into "the world" where
things are happening, he has to serve a long, often wasteful,
apprenticeship, before he is admitted to the sanctum where they are
being decided. What he cannot do is to dip into action and out again
whenever it suits him. There are no privileged listeners. The man of
affairs, observing that the social scientist knows only from the
outside what he knows, in part at least, from the inside, recognizing
that the social scientist's hypothesis is not in the nature of things
susceptible of laboratory proof, and that verification is possible
only in the "real" world, has developed a rather low opinion of social
scientists who do not share his views of public policy.
In his heart of hearts the social scientist shares this estimate of
himself. He has little inner certainty about his own work.
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