A Reaction to Greenwald, Pratkanis, Leippe, and Baumgardner (1986): Under What Conditions Does Research Obstruct Theory Progress?

Greenwald, Pratkanis, Leippe, and Baumgardner (1986) argued that a theory-testing research orientation contributes to a confirmation bias that impedes the progress of research. To eliminate this confirmation bias, they proposed two complementary result-centered approaches: the method of condition seeking and the design approach. We argue that Greenwald et al. confused the relation between theory and research and that the result-centered strategies they proposed would in no way minimize the bias. We also suggest that result-centered research can impede the progress of psychology because it retards theoretical, methodological, and technological advancement, and encourages increasingly narrow and trivial research endeavors. We conclude by discussing ways to minimize these problems.