Scientific rigor

Rigor is the strict adherence to certain rules in order to meet a particular standard of scientific objectivity. In economics, one can find different codifications of rules, which can be labeled as statistical rigor, measurement with theory, mathematical rigor, experimental rigor, and empirical rigor. Each type of rigor was introduced into economics by a particular group of economists who were deeply concerned with rigor in developing their specific research methodology, whether it was a methodology of econometrics, mathematical economics, empirical economics, or experimental economics. Although one can observe the influence of the more general philosophies of science in economics, they were not suitable to actual research in economics because of their abstractness with regard to actual research. Practitioners pursuing more rigorous research had to transform them into a methodology that suited the kind of research they were promoting.