Outgrowing physics envy: Reconceptualizing social research

Notes a pervasive sense of unease concerning the status of social research, rooted in a false dichotomy between objectivity and subjectivity and a belief that an idealized positivist version of classical physics should be the model for all sciences. A reconceptualization is needed, in which experimental and quasi-experimental methods are used with more caution and are supplemented by a more thorough conceptual apparatus. (Original abstract-amended)