And then there was snow in Alaska: a sharing of experience with Allan Wicker.
A perennial problem with theorizing is the improper context which experiments and correlational studies assume without understanding first the environmental levels of correspondence at which variables operate in nature. Ecological studies show variables can operate within separate contexts in such a way as to cancel the influence if too large or too small a context is chosen. One must first determine the proper level of correspondence before investigating the causal relationship. An example of the variable of snow in Alaska is explored and different levels of correspondence cited in attitude studies and economics. Only when levels of correspondence are understood does the true causal relationship permit measurement and interpretation.
Bechtel
R B
RB
Psychology Department, University of Arizona, Tucson 85721.
D000413:Alaska; D001290:Attitude; D001519:Behavior; D004463:Ecology; D006801:Humans; D012107:Research Design / Q000379:methods*; D012914:Snow; D014887:Weather