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I see where you're coming from, but sociology is a soft science. Even in an experiment like your resume example, there are many uncontrollable variables (company sizes/values/morale, hr staff, etc) that render the data somewhat anecdotal, even if it follows a pattern.

Moreover, this post is a personal outlook, and doesn't necessarily need hard data to prove an individual experience. There is really no "If A, then B" implied here.

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Of course there are uncontrolled variables, but there are those in every experiment. With large enough samples, those uncontrolled variables become less significant. That's how statistical sampling works--if you expected everyone to be exactly the same, then you would only have to ask one person.

I understand that this is a personal outlook, but I feel like it is trying to make a more general point than "This is my story".

BTW: Would you consider economics a "soft science"? I study economics with some background with econometrics (statistics, essentially, where the entire focus is on controlling for unknowns)

I haven't really thought about economics as a soft science. I suppose its more objectively measurable, so I wouldn't necessarily lump it in with fields like psychology. Good point to ponder though :)

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