Summary
samenvatting on being a scientist (OBAS)
- Course
- Institution
samenvatting van de colleges van on being a scientist (OBAS)
[Show more]
Seller
Follow
sterrekokshoorn
Content preview
On Being a Scientist 2022Week 1: What is science
College 1.1
Is scientific knowledge different from everyday knowledge? If so, how can we distinguish these two
from each other?
Everyday knowledge Scientific knowledge
practical counterintuitive
commonsensical Involves theoretical framework
Based on everyday experience Based upon imaginative ideas
! Two poles of science = imaginative ideas + solid facts
- Science -> need for stretch of imagination for innovative ideas, not everything is always what
it seems to be -> these “theories” have to be grounded on solid facts.
But, how to demarcate science from pseudoscience?
- Karl Popper: compared the theories of Freud, Marx and Einstein. They all seemed scientific,
and all were sophisticated, counterintuitive and can account for many facts. The main
difference between Freud/ Marx and Einstein’s theory was highly risky -> it predicted a
specific phenomena that had never been predicted before.
- Popper’s view -> took falsifiability as criterion from demarcating science from non-science ->
Science does not revolve around the question how you can establish something as true, but
how to establish something as false. The scientific quality of a theory is determined by its
prohibitive nature, rather than by the amount of supportive evidence. The essence of
science is critical testing of one’s ideas rather then amassing support for them.
- Prohibitive nature: a theory with a prohibitive nature forbids particular events/ experimental
results.
College 1.2
Is history science?
- Popper: No -> History is a singular process that occurs only once, so it is impossible to
formulate and test general laws about history.
- Nicholas Ponter: No -> history is not reproducible, you cannot control the variables, it is a
description.
- But: “history is just a description” is a misjudge:
- Historians may not look for exact laws, it may not be completely reproducible, but
they do look for historical patterns and compelling narratives.
- Historians may not make predictions about the future, but their narratives can be
tested.
, - Falsification criterion -> History is/ can be falsifiable: new historical evidence can
falsify a already accepted event/ narrative.
- Whether it may or may not be a “science” is also a literal discussion. In English literature we
make a difference in different kind of sciences/ disciplines. With science “natural sciences” is
meant. In German, the literal translation for science is “Wissenschaft”, which includes all the
different disciplines. In German language History is, in fact, a science.
Why is it almost impossible to provide straightforward criteria to differentiate between scientific
and other kind of knowledge?
- Critical tests of scientific hypotheses are extremely rare/ almost impossible.
- All observations are theory-laden -> perception involves interpretation/ is based on a
conceptual framework.
- It is impossible to test a scientific hypothesis in isolation -> an empirical test usually requires
background assumptions.
Week 2: scientific questions
College 2
“What kind of questions do scientists ask?”
- (large) How/ why questions vs (smaller, more precise) scientific questions
- Large how/ why questions are too big to handle at once -> scientist transform these
into smaller, more concrete, questions (how many/ correlation).
- Scientists transform a larger curiosity into a manageable research question that
typically can be answer by a yes/ no/ number.
“Are all research questions allowed?”
- The research might have negative consequences for those involved
- Declaration of Helsinki: humans who take part in a scientific experiment should be
informed about the nature of the experiment and should not be harmed in the
experiment.
- Animals -> animals should not suffer unnecessarily in scientific experiments.
- The outcome of scientific research/ answers may have negative outcomes
- No existing regulations yet. But a scientist is responsible to be aware of the negative
outcomes its own research might have (might be a racism-related or an ethical
discussion involved).
Feedback video
Test: “is the size of my research question good”
- Small enough? If you can imagine an answer to your research question, it is likely that your
question is small enough (how many, is there a correlation, when happened, who).
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card or Stuvia-credit for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller sterrekokshoorn. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for $7.54. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.
Can Stuvia be trusted?
4.6 stars on Google & Trustpilot (+1000 reviews)
67096 documents were sold in the last 30 days
Founded in 2010, the go-to place to buy study notes for 14 years now