That we are not alone in our belief in the importance of putting constructive methodological discussion onto the agenda is evidenced by the enthusiastic response of our publishers at Oxford University Press, Terry Vaughn and Niko Pfund in particular, to whom great thanks are due. We also thank Deans Richard Foley and George Downs for their foresight in helping to create the Center for Experimental Social Science, which has developed into the most rewarding and open of research environments. We thank several of our NYU colleagues, most notably Paul Glimcher of the Center for Neuroscience and Guillermina Jasso of the sociology department, for encouraging us in our determination to use methodological levers to expand interdisciplinary communication. We thank Rajiv Advani for the work he put into organizing the NYU conference of August 2006 at which all authors presented early drafts of their chapters, and Mark Dean for his central role not only in organizing the conference but also in organizing and essentially coediting this book.