AN INQUIRY INTO THE HERMENEUTIC-DIALECTIC METHOD OF INQUIRY

The Hermeneutic-Dialectic (HD) Method is analyzed in terms of such the ory construction issues as theory vs. method, necessary evidence, and process vs. content. Traditional experimental procedure is also contra sted with what takes place in the HD method. It is held that problems with traditional research in psychology stem from theory and not metho d. Questions are raised concerning data interpretation in the present research, and how such findings are settled upon in the first place. T he paper closes with a discussion of stereotypy as reflecting the natu ral propensity for human beings to reason predicationally. This discus sion draws on the tenets of logical learning theory.