Mengapa Angka-angka Statistik di Ilmu Sosial sangatlah Rapuh

In his book A Measure for Measures, Raymond Pawson presents a rigorous manifesto for empirical sociology that seeks to bridge the gap between abstract theory and quantitative research. He critiquies the "perspectivism" and "paradigm wars" that have historically divided the field into naturalist and anti-naturalist camps, arguing that both sides often rely on flawed philosophical justifications rather than practical rigor. Pawson specifically focuses on the problem of measurement, which he identifies as the strategic intersection of the "double hermeneutic"—the tension between lay meanings and scientific metalanguages. He identifies four major flaws in traditional sociological measurement: it is frequently irrelevant, arbitrary, artificial, and selective due to an over-reliance on ordinary language and a lack of theoretical depth. To move beyond these "desperate measures," he proposes a realist framework that utilizes generative reasoning and explanatory networks to establish more robust evidence. Ultimately, Pawson advocates for a post-empiricist sociology where research design is informed by the underlying mechanisms of social processes rather than simple variable analysis.