The past three decades have brought important developments in psychological methodology, including new ways of expressing theories, new methods of statistical data analysis, and more sophisticated techniques for psychological measurement. The central figures in methodological development in this period are not ideas, nor scientists, but instruments-the electronic digital computers that contribute so widely to behavioral and social research. Computers have shaped the development of methodology by greatly enlarging our conception of what is possible. Of course, computers have also brought difficulties, since a computer can easily be used thoughtlessly. Computer analysis can expose the inadequacies in a theory, but mounds of computer printout can also obscure the flaws. Elaborate statistical analyses can lead to nonsense, and their lack of meaning can be difficult to spot, since we have not yet learned much about what sorts of warning &dquo;gauges&dquo; to install in our Author’s Note: This paper was improved greatly by the suggestions of Peter Bentler,
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