Adapt the Method, but Don't Do It Naively
Fleetingadapt the method, but don’t do it naively
I tend to be pragrmatic. I won’t say you should apply a method per se but because it helps you solve a problem.
Therefore, adapting a method is totally fine. But it should be done with care:
- be intellectually honest and don’t pretend you apply the method in that
case. It is totally fine claiming that you apply a method that is inspired by
X. Saying you do X has the following bad consequences:
- people that know X better than you will think you did not understand it,
- people that know X lesser than you will mistakenly adapt their prior,
- make sure you apply the method before trying to adapt it. Simply using the wording and a few routines is not enough. Read the method from end to end several times. Often, people adapt a straw man method while the original method might be totally fine. (see avoir l’intuition de faire les choses bien vs être convaincu de faire les choses bien).
- beware that a method is generally thought through and its parts generally work together. Just putting aside part of the method that “does not suits” you might break other parts of the method.