Page "Social research" Paragraph 12

In addition, good research will " look for differences that make a difference " ( Rule 2 ) and " build in reality checks " ( Rule 3 ).

Rule 4 advises researchers to replicate, that is, " to see if identical analyses yield similar results for different samples of people " ( p. 90 ).

The next two rules urge researchers to " compare like with like " ( Rule 5 ) and to " study change " ( Rule 6 ); these two rules are especially important when researchers want to estimate the effect of one variable on another ( e. g. how much does college education actually matter for wages ?).

The final rule, " Let method be the servant, not the master ," reminds researchers that methods are the means, not the end, of social research ; it is critical from the outset to fit the research design to the research issue, rather than the other way around.