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Would it accord with community norms to offer a bounty with the intention of stimulating new answers to a question, coming from certain perspectives that one regards as neglected on CV? For example, one perspective I would like to see more vigorously represented in answers here is one that maintains skepticism about purely mechanical modes of statistical inference (especially in the social and medical sciences), and urges making meaningful connections between statistical models and realistic theoretical mechanisms/constructs.

I ask because one objection I can anticipate is that offering such a bounty might seem like 'lobbying' unfairly for a certain POV, and (worse, perhaps) suppressing alternative POVs.

Epilogue: Thanks to guidance provided from all sides here, I've now offered the contemplated bounty on this question, and am seeking a suitable way to cross-post to the Cognitive Sciences community. I gather that designing workable cross-posting on multiple SE communities remains something of an unsolved problem.

I took the plainest approach to cross-posting, as seen here.

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    $\begingroup$ Are you asking about rewarding existing answers? Or about offering a bounty for future answers requesting a certain kind of answer? $\endgroup$
    – amoeba
    Commented Sep 7, 2017 at 20:02
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    $\begingroup$ I'm thinking about the latter. Just updated Q to clarify; thanks. $\endgroup$
    – David C. Norris
    Commented Sep 7, 2017 at 20:03
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    $\begingroup$ This sounds a bit like trying to use CV to advance a philosophical agenda for science. The SE sites are supposed to be a resource of simple factual information in the form of Qs & As. I'm skeptical that this is an appropriate activity for the site. Imagine someone trying to encourage the posting of more answers advocating for Bayesian methods over frequentist ones, at best tangentially related to the question at issue, or analogously advocating for C# over java on Stack Overflow. $\endgroup$
    – gung - Reinstate Monica Mod
    Commented Sep 7, 2017 at 20:12
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    $\begingroup$ That's an interesting perspective @gung. I'm thinking of the relationship between statistics and philosophy of science as something like that connecting programming with various programming paradigms. The spirit in which I'd be thinking of operating (to extend your analogy) would be something like promoting continuation-based or recursive solutions to algorithm design questions. That's not to negate your point, but to indicate the spirit of my intent. $\endgroup$
    – David C. Norris
    Commented Sep 7, 2017 at 20:25
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    $\begingroup$ @gung Some people are already doing that, rather aggressively, by posting the same answers (in various forms) all the time. We have tolerated that for years, mainly because despite the repetition they sometimes provide useful insights and perspectives. (You know who they are.) Why should using bounties towards the same end be viewed as a less appropriate approach? $\endgroup$
    – whuber Mod
    Commented Sep 8, 2017 at 22:44
  • $\begingroup$ @whuber, let's stipulate that that has been occurring. It is still better not to take it one step further. $\endgroup$
    – gung - Reinstate Monica Mod
    Commented Sep 9, 2017 at 0:19
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    $\begingroup$ @gung I do not understand how offering a bounty to request answers from a particular perspective represents a step "further": that seems like a milder thing to do than writing the answer oneself because (a) it's overt and (b) it opens the field up to anyone who would like to provide that kind of answer. $\endgroup$
    – whuber Mod
    Commented Sep 9, 2017 at 13:27

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That's a good, if perhaps risky, use of your hard-earned reputation: it presumes the bounty will actually result in the kinds of answers you seek. As alternatives (or supplements) to this strategy you might consider (a) posting your own answers; (b) rewarding existing answers of the type you wish to encourage; (c) promoting selected questions or answers in communities of people who might be inspired to post the answers you are looking for.

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    $\begingroup$ +1 Thank you @whuber for broadening my perspective. The idea of promoting questions in other communities is completely unexpected, and encourages me to explore the broader ecosystem here. $\endgroup$
    – David C. Norris
    Commented Sep 7, 2017 at 20:10
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    $\begingroup$ Click on the "Share" link beneath a question or answer to get an URL you can use on Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc. $\endgroup$
    – whuber Mod
    Commented Sep 7, 2017 at 20:22
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    $\begingroup$ (d) encouraging askers to provide the context that allows that kind of answer. Related: stats.meta.stackexchange.com/q/3134/17230. $\endgroup$
    – Scortchi Mod
    Commented Sep 10, 2017 at 18:06

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