In the scientific pecking order, social scientists are usually looked down on by their peers in the natural sciences. Real scientists do experiments to test their theo-ries―or, if they cannot, try to look for natural phenomena that can act in lieu of experiments. Social scientists, it is widely thought, do not subject their own hypotheses to any such rigorous treatment. Worse, they peddle their untested hypotheses to governments, and try to get them turned into policies. The Campbell Collaboration, whose second annual conference has just taken place in Philadelphia, exists to change both this perception and the reality behind it by advancing the cause of "evidence-based" social policy. The collaboration is an international, independent, non-profit organisation that brings together social scientists, statisticians and policymakers. Its aim is to assemble and evaluate the best available evidence for the effectiveness of various social interventions. In particular, that means evidence from experiments.
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