the aspects of the study. Double blind studies have been usedin the past where the researchers are kept blind too.A scientific subject knows its own limitations. Psychology attempts tostudy complex phenomena in laboratory and field situations where validityis called into question. Results contrast with differing personalunderstandings of researchers which will always differ to some extent. Ina physical science a variance of error may be intolerable above 2%, inpsychology 50% may be an acceptable level.Every psychological experiment and theory is evaluated with the same levelof criticality as that of the traditional sciences. Questions are askedover the theoretical framework, the results validity and its relationshipwith the hypothesis, the quality and range of sample and if it isrepresentative, the conclusions that can be drawn form the data and broaderconclusions that may be apparent. Finally the studies are questioned ontheir meanings and ethics to operationalise the original hypothesis.Psychology has adopted the scientific mode. However, from a strictlyscientific point of view, it has not been able to meet the requirements oftrue science. In attempting to evaluate the status of psychology as a scientific study,the American Psychological Association appointed Sigmund Koch to conduct astudy, employing over eighty noted scholars in assessing the facts,hypotheses, and methods of psychology. In 1983, the results were publishedin a series entitled 'Psychology: A Study of Science'. Koch describes whathe believes to be the delusion in thinking of psychology as a science: The truth is that psychological statements which describe human behavior orwhich report results from tested research can be scientific. However, whenthere is a move from describing human behavior to explaining it there isalso a move from science to opinion.Here it is important to make the distinction between psychology andpsychiatry. Academic psychology is a scienti...
