I was going to answer this in comments, but it’s too important.
The recent arguments against accepting the results of the McKinsey survey on the PPACA and employers is not a damnation of all McKinsey studies. It’s our being upset at not understanding how a particular study was done. I need to understand the methodology in order to understand its validity. But I consider studies paramount, not authors.
I will consider any study, published by any group, as long as I can read and judge how they did it. That’s what’s important. People with whom I disagree can do excellent work. So just because McKinsey refuses to release methods on one survey does not invalidate all their past work. I don’t judge science based on the ideology of the authors. That’s a mistake. Don’t make it.
