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Dimitry Kochenov
Michael Gazzaniga's brilliant study of neuropsychology of split-brain patients was based on the analysis of the condition of a tiny sample of subjects. Some aphasia studies produce convincing results working with two or three subjects: more are simply difficult to find. It is generally accepted, however, that in order to reach sound conclusions a representative sample of subjects is usually needed. Samantha Currie's book, claiming to be "of a socio-legal nature" (at 4) uses a sample of 44 Poles working in the UK (at 211) to back "socio-legal research" on the condition of half a billion European citizens, should one judge the book by what is on the cover. Constant references to the "empirical data generated for the research which forms the basis of this book" (at 38), i.e. references to the 44 interviews conducted, sound like misplaced irony when used to agree with the findings based on infinitely more substantial samples, like UK Government statistics including 715,000 registrations (at 69).
In the introduction to Samantha Currie's book we are asked not to worry about methodology, which is "genuinely interdisciplinary" (at 7). Instead, we are promised a theory ""grounded" in the data collected" (at 6). Unfortunately, having read the book to the end the present reviewer failed to uncover the promised theoretical findings, �
