Threats to the Utility of Social Science Jonathan A. Morell American Behavioral Scientist Introduction As social scientists, there are actions we can take to increase the role our work plays in practical problem solving. We may not wish to take such action, and that wish may be justified. Our information may be wrong or misleading. It may be used to further undesirable ends. The task of promoting information use may be too difficult. By inclination, interest, or personality, some scientists hold that pressing for information use is inappropriate. Many of these problems already have been discussed in this issue of ABS. Formidable practical and ethical problems are involved in the application of social scientific information, and as Doris (this issue) has shown, there are often compelling ethical reasons not to advocate the use of social scientific information. But when we as scientists decide to work at increasing the use of our findings, we must be cognizant of the factors that threaten the utility of the information we offer. This article provides a framework for understanding some salient threats to the utility of scientific information in practical problem solving. |