"By and large, then, the important terms of any science are significant because of their semantics, not their syntax: they are not notational, but reach out to the world which gives the science its subject-matter. The meaning of such terms results rom a process of conceptualization of the subject-matter." (Abraham Kaplan, "The Conduct of Inquiry: Methodology for Behavioral Science", 1964)
"Concepts, then, mark out the paths by which we may move most freely in the logical space. They identify nodes or junctions in the network of relationships, termini at which we can halt while preserving the maximum range of choice as to where to go next." (Abraham Kaplan, "The Conduct of Inquiry: Methodology for Behavioral Science", 1964)
"Constructs are terms which, though not observational either directly or indirectly, may be applied and even defined on the basis of the observables. [...] Constructs, in other words, have systemic as well as observational meaning specified by horizontal rather than vertical connections Strictly speaking, the difference between constructs and theoretical terms can be localized in the nature of vertical connections alone: for constructs the relation to observations is definitional, while for theoretical terms it is a matter of empirical fact." (Abraham Kaplan, "The Conduct of Inquiry: Methodology for Behavioral Science", 1964)
"Give a small boy a hammer, and he will find that everything he encounters needs pounding. It comes as no particular surprise to discover that a scientist formulates problems in a way which requires for their solution just those techniques in which he himself is especially skilled." (Abraham Kaplan, "The Conduct of Inquiry: Methodology for Behavioral Science", 1964)
"In consequence, we are caught up in a paradox, one which might be called the paradox of conceptualization. The proper concepts are needed to formulate a good theory, but we need a good theory to arrive at the proper concepts." (Abraham Kaplan, "The Conduct of Inquiry: Methodology for Behavioral Science", 1964)
"Measurement, we have seen, always has an element of error in it. The most exact description or prediction that a scientist can make is still only approximate." (Abraham Kaplan, "The Conduct of Inquiry: Methodology for Behavioral Science", 1964)
"Methods are techniques sufficient general to be common to all sciences, or to a significant part of them. Alternatively, they are logical or philosophical principles sufficiently specific to relate especially to science as distinguished from other human enterprises and interests. Thus, methods include such procedures as forming concepts and hypotheses making observations and measurements, performing experiments, building models and theories, providing explanations, and making predictions. The aim of methodology, then, is to describe and analyze these methods, throwing light on their limitations and resources, clarifying their presupposition and consequences, relating their potentialities to the twilight zone at the frontiers of knowledge." (Abraham Kaplan, "The Conduct of Inquiry: Methodology for Behavioral Science", 1964)
"[…] statistical techniques are tools of thought, and not substitutes for thought." (Abraham Kaplan, "The Conduct of Inquiry: Methodology for Behavioral Science", 1964)
"The autonomy of inquiry is in no way incompatible with the mature dependency of the several sciences on one another. Nor does this autonomy imply that the individual scientist is accountable only to himself." (Abraham Kaplan, "The Conduct of Inquiry: Methodology for Behavioral Science", 1964)
"We are caught up in a paradox, one which might be called the paradox of conceptualization. The proper concepts are needed to formulate a good theory, but we need a good theory to arrive at the proper concepts." (Abraham Kaplan, "The Conduct of Inquiry: Methodology for Behavioral Science", 1964)
"What knowledge requires of experience, and what experience provides, is an independence of our mere think-so. The pleasure principle governing the life of the infant gives way to the reality principle as wishes encounter obstacles to their fulfilment. The word 'object', it has been said, can be understood as referring to that which objects. That is objective which insists on its own rights regardless of our wishes, and only experience can transmit its claims to us." (Abraham Kaplan, "The Conduct of Inquiry: Methodology for Behavioral Science", 1964)
"What we call 'intuition' is any logic-in-use which is (1) preconscious, and (2) outside the inference schema for which we reconstructions. We speak of intuition, in short, M hen neither we nor the discoverer himself knows quite how he arrives at his discoveries, while the frequency or pattern of their occurrence makes us reluctant to ascribe them merely to chance." (Abraham Kaplan, "The Conduct of Inquiry: Methodology for Behavioral Science", 1964)
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