Institute of Psychology, Tallinn University Tallinn, Estonia.
Front Psychol. 2010 Jul 30;1:29. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2010.00029. eCollection 2010.
Science begins with the question, what do I want to know? Science becomes science, however, only when this question is justified and the appropriate methodology is chosen for answering the research question. Research question should precede the other questions; methods should be chosen according to the research question and not vice versa. Modern quantitative psychology has accepted method as primary; research questions are adjusted to the methods. For understanding thinking in modern quantitative psychology, two epistemologies should be distinguished: structural-systemic that is based on Aristotelian thinking, and associative-quantitative that is based on Cartesian-Humean thinking. The first aims at understanding the structure that underlies the studied processes; the second looks for identification of cause-effect relationships between the events with no possible access to the understanding of the structures that underlie the processes. Quantitative methodology in particular as well as mathematical psychology in general, is useless for answering questions about structures and processes that underlie observed behaviors. Nevertheless, quantitative science is almost inevitable in a situation where the systemic-structural basis of behavior is not well understood; all sorts of applied decisions can be made on the basis of quantitative studies. In order to proceed, psychology should study structures; methodologically, constructive experiments should be added to observations and analytic experiments.
科学始于问题，即我想知道什么？然而，只有当这个问题得到证明，并且选择了适当的方法来回答研究问题时，科学才成为科学。研究问题应该先于其他问题；方法应该根据研究问题来选择，而不是相反。现代定量心理学已经将方法作为首要因素接受，研究问题根据方法进行调整。为了理解现代定量心理学中的思维，应该区分两种认识论：基于亚里士多德思维的结构系统论，以及基于笛卡尔-休谟思维的联想定量论。前者旨在理解研究过程背后的结构；后者旨在寻找事件之间因果关系的识别，而不可能了解过程背后的结构。定量方法，特别是数学心理学，对于回答关于观察行为背后的结构和过程的问题毫无用处。然而，在行为的系统结构基础没有得到很好理解的情况下，定量科学几乎是不可避免的；各种应用决策都可以基于定量研究做出。为了继续前进，心理学应该研究结构；从方法论上讲，应该在观察和分析实验的基础上增加建设性实验。
