What do we mean by "important questions?"

Overcoming ‘Physics Envy’:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/01/opinion/sunday/the-social-sciences-physics-envy.html

A more important criticism is that theoretical models can be of great value even if they are never supported by empirical testing... To borrow a metaphor from the philosopher of science Ronald Giere, theories are like maps: the test of a map lies not in arbitrarily checking random points but in whether people find it useful to get somewhere.

Likewise, the analysis of empirical data can be valuable even in the absence of a grand theoretical model. Did the welfare reform championed by Bill Clinton in the 1990s reduce poverty? Are teenage employees adversely affected by increases in the minimum wage? Do voter identification laws disproportionately reduce turnout among the poor and minorities? Answering such questions about the effects of public policies does not require sweeping theoretical claims, just careful attention to the data.

Also this piece by Prof. Bob Jensen:

With Truce at the UT Factory, Time to Face Tough Choices - See more at: http://www.austinpost.org/article/opinion-truce-ut-factory-time-face-tough-choices#sthash.GpN0hbiW.dpuf

With Truce at the UT Factory, Time to Face Tough Choices - See more at: http://www.austinpost.org/article/opinion-truce-ut-factory-time-face-tough-choices#sthash.GpN0hbiW.dpuf

With Truce at the UT Factory, Time to Face Tough Choices - See more at: http://www.austinpost.org/article/opinion-truce-ut-factory-time-face-tough-choices#sthash.GpN0hbiW.dpuf

 
http://www.austinpost.org/university-texas/truce-ut-factory-time-face-tough-choices

"In the social sciences, researchers can easily advance careers not by asking important questions about how systems of power work, but by constructing complex models and methodologies that are, again, so allegedly sophisticated that they have to be important. Students also find most of this kind of work annoying, especially when faculty members have a hard time explaining why the articles being assigned are worth plodding through."

"Instead of investing time in your building status in academic cliques—where you spend a lot of energy reminding each other how smart you are—wade out into the world and let your work be guided by a simple question: How are we humans going to save ourselves and save the planet from ruin? We live in an unsustainable system that was created by systems that concentrate wealth and power. Do we care?"