The value of research

I think this article underscores the importance of empirical research. It's easy to fall into the trap of observing a phenomenon, such as code-switching, and conducting research with presuppositions (e.g. there's no grammar or there's a convergent/hybrid grammar, etc.). Torres Cacoullos and Travis also highlight the fact that whatever constraints we do, or do not, incorporate in an analysis (such as the cross-linguistic priming effect) can produce different results (23). This article is an example of taking previous research and looking at it from a different angle. By adding one more constraint to the variable analysis (cross-linguistic priming), they were able to draw conclusions that haven't been drawn before. This research stuff ain't so bad after all.