[mrandish]

> I doubt social scientists and economists are just a bunch of idiots or charlatans.

The vast majority are certainly not, however, idiocy or ill-intent are not required to fall prey to many common causes of inaccurate results. Smart people trying their best to do good work still frequently succumb to errors and this is especially true in the less 'hard' sciences.

That's why the push for increasing rigor with RCTs and other methods is important and necessary.