CONTEXTUAL DISCIPLINE - ITS ESSENTIALITY WITHIN SOCIAL-SYSTEMS ANALYSIS

It is argued that contextual discipline, under which all acts of judgm ent (such as assumptions) during a given evaluation are drawn from one designated contextual pattern, is essential if such judgments are to be associated later in any meaningful way. Further, if several studies are conducted with reference to dissimilar contexts, expect their res ults to be as nonintegrable as parts of several randomly selected jigs aw puzzles. A corresponding requirement exists in regard to statistica l inference: if contextual discipline is lacking, so that data are dra wn from dissimilar contexts, do not mix those data together. The impor tance of contextual discipline is observable from practice, but it can be supported logically as well. The reasons derive from a context-mat ching theory of choosing (decision making). That theory is treated in detail in a companion paper; here, it is summarily described and defen ded. Past examples showing the importance of contextual discipline are adduced, along with revolutionary impacts upon social-systems analysi s if the case presented here is sound.