methodolatry

Why this word is great

METHODOLATRY — [Noun] The slavish adherence to research methods over substantive interpretation or intellectual inquiry. From method ("a systematic procedure or technique") + -o- (connective) + -latry ("worship of"), modeled after idolatry. Unlike "methodology" (which studies the principles of method) or "rigor" (which upholds intellectual discipline), methodolatry is the hollow ritual of procedure—the researcher who polishes their survey design while ignoring the humanity behind the data points. It is the sterile gleam of a lab coat never stained by curiosity, the endless calibration of instruments that never measure what matters, the peer-reviewed paper that answers a question no one asked. A devotion to form over meaning is, in the end, just another kind of blindness.