Hard Versus Soft Science
The ease of quantification is one of the features used to distinguish hard and soft sciences from each other. Hard sciences are often considered to be more scientific, rigorous, or accurate. In some social sciences such as sociology, specific accurate data are difficult to obtain, either because laboratory conditions are not present or because the issues involved are conceptual but not directly quantifiable.
Read more about this topic: Quantification
Famous quotes containing the words hard, soft and/or science:
“I’ve been complimented for my scorekeeping, and sometimes it’s hard to tell whether it’s a backhanded compliment or not. Are the men surprised when a woman does a good job as a judge?”
—Sheila Harmon-Martin, U.S. political scientist and boxing judge. As quoted in the Chronicle of Higher Education, pp. A13-A14 (June 2, 1993)
“A good soft pillow for that good white head
Were better than a churlish turf of France.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“We have to ask ourselves whether medicine is to remain a humanitarian and respected profession or a new but depersonalized science in the service of prolonging life rather than diminishing human suffering.”
—Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (b. 1926)