"The value of scientific communication and peer review is that...the data warrant the conclusions drawn," Walker says. "Gilligan is absolutely brilliant in interpreting and writing about these interview excerpts, but scholars in the field have no idea regarding the scientific integrity of the research that underlies these interpretations."

Three of the seven articles cited by Gilligan are, in fact, not peer-reviewed, according to research standards. One was a conference proceeding, and two others appeared in a publication called New Directions for Child Development.

"[That journal is] meant to be a sourcebook for just what it's called--new directions. It's for trying out untested ideas," says New Directions editor William V.B. Damon '67, also director of the Stanford Center for Adolescence. "I'm the only one who reads it for quality."

Sommers says three of the other articles Gilligan cites do not support the thesis of In a Different Voice.

But the final of the seven articles, published in 1988, is both peer-reviewed and supportive of the In a Different Voice argument.

That article also contains a description of Gilligan's methodology, which the Atlantic Monthly story claims has never been published. Gilligan says Sommers completely ignores this study.

Like much of Gilligan's work, however, the article has been challenged for its lack of conclusive evidence.

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