SCI4405 and SCI8103: Research Practice and Ethics
This module is informative only.
There is no assessment component involved
Science is a way of discovering the nature of
the Universe.
It is a tool which combines a shared body of
knowledge with a method of investigation.
It consists of observations and inferences to
make testable predictions.
It is a way of developing new knowledge.
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The academic discipline concerned with
making explicit the nature and significance
of ordinary and scientific beliefs and
investigating the intelligibility of concepts by
means of rational argument concerning their
presuppositions, implications and
interrelationships.
Philosophy is the study of what we believe
and why we believe it.
The philosophy of science is an investigation
into:
what qualifies as science,
the reliability of scientific theories and
what is the purpose of science?
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The basis of science is critical thinking which
is the analysis of observations and arguments
to form a judgment.
C0mponents of critical thinking include:
▪ Falsifiability
▪ Logic
▪ Comprehensiveness
▪ Repeatability
▪ Honesty
▪ Sufficiency
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In science it is important to be able to deduce
that something is not true.
If there is no experiment or evidence that could
falsify a claim, then essentially the claim is
meaningless.
It must be possible to conceive of an experiment
or observation which negates the claim in
question, though it may not be possible to
actually perform this experiment.
“No amount of experimentation can ever prove me
right; a single experiment can prove me wrong.”
Albert Einstein
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Any argument must be explained in terms that
can be rationally followed from the underlying
premises.
If any step in the argument cannot be justified,
then the whole argument is invalidated.
▪ e.g. All cats eat mice, Sarah eats mice, therefore
Sarah is a cat. Sarah might be a cat, but she might
also be an owl, a goanna or a very unusual human.
Logic is concerned with how premises are
connected to conclusions.
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Most scientific theories make different kinds of
predictions depending on the circumstances.
Sometimes scientists find same results that
support the theory and others that do not. The
unsupportive results must be given the same
importance as the supportive ones.
▪ e.g. do one set of experiments and light looks like it is
composed of particles, do another and light looks like
it is made up of waves. Reconciling both of these
observations generated a new theory of the waveparticle duality of light.
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To be reliable any system of critical thinking
must examine evidence in an “honest” way.
Honest here means that the evidence must be
considered in a way that does not impose any
expectations of what the results should be.
This is easy to say in theory but difficult to
achieve in practice.
▪ e.g. you might have 9 experiments which support
your hypothesis but just one experiment which does
not. What do you do?
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The problem with just doing one experiment is
the possibility of error.
Possibly the recording device was not properly
calibrated, maybe the temperature fluctuated,
maybe there was a power spike, etc.
Results need to be checked repeatedly to ensure
the same answers are reproduced, so there is
confidence in the data.
The science we do at USQ needs to reproducible
in Siberia.
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The data used to support the hypothesis must
provide adequate support for the hypothesis.
The support for an idea must be provided by the
person that claims a particular result.
The more “important” a claim or result is the
more exacting the evidence must be.
The evidence must be amenable to testing and
should not be based solely on testimony.
The evidence must be readily available for
scrutiny.
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Pseudoscience is the term given to ideas or
phenomena presented in a way that is not
consistent with the scientific method, while
attempting to appear so.
There is not a clear demarcation between
science and pseudoscience.
▪ e.g. the pseudoscience Cryptozoology is the study
of mysterious animals – the giant panda and giant
squid were both thought to be “cryptids” but both
have now been well described.
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Use of jargon, especially when it is used
inappropriately.
Emotive claims.
Circular reasoning where the argument starts
with what it is trying to end up with.
Argument from authority or ancient wisdom
Charges of conspiracy.
Cherry picking.
False dichotomies, e.g. good vs bad.
Straw man arguments.
Correlation confused with causation – the
rooster syndrome.
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Qualitative
▪ Generally examine either the presence or absence of a
characteristic.
▪ May be based on human sense perceptions and so can
be subjective.
Quantitative
▪ Also known as measurements and are comparable
when performed by different people at different times
and places.
▪ Consists of a number and units of measurement
▪ Have an associated uncertainty.
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Human perception occurs by a complex
process of abstraction.
Only certain sense details are processed.
Confirmation bias – we see what we expect to
see.
▪ e.g. traffic lights are always red
▪ e.g. placebo / nocebo effects
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Damage locations done
to WWII bombers
making it back to base.
What areas of the plane
should be better
armoured?
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Inferences are steps in reasoning moving
from observations (premises) to conclusions.
Inferences can be divided into 3 kinds
deduction, induction and abduction.
▪ Deduction derives logical conclusions from
premises assumed to be true.
▪ Induction takes premises to a “universal”
conclusion, where universal refers to what
particular things have in common.
▪ Abduction tries to give the best explanation.
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A hypothesis is a proposed explanation for a
phenomenon. It is a preliminary idea whose
merit requires evaluation.
If a hypothesis holds up to scrutiny then it may
become a “theory”, which is a well-confirmed
type of explanation.
To be a scientific hypothesis it must be testable
and must be able to be proven false.
By admitting the possibility that the
hypothesis/theory may be incorrect allows
science to progress.
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Firemen must be responsible for starting fires
because you always find them at fires.
Sleeping with your shoes on causes you wake
up with a headache.
Children who sleep with the light on are likely
to develop myopia in later life. Therefore,
sleeping with the light on causes myopia.
In the absence of a linking “mechanism” it is
difficult to show something causes
something else.
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The power of science is that it makes
predictions and models about the way things
work.
How well these predictions and models work
is a test of the accuracy of science.
A lot of science is done in attempts to
overthrow accepted theories.
Great scientists are the ones who
fundamentally change things.
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Questions and
background information
Develop Hypotheses
Appropriate Experiments
and Observations
Analyse and Interpret
Results
Report Findings
Empiricism – knowledge comes from what
can be observed. The scientific method is an
empirical approach.
Rationalism – reason and logic are the chief
source and test of knowledge.
Scepticism – all knowledge and beliefs are
subject to criticism. Knowledge must be
subject to systematic investigation.
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“Close links between the growth of scientific
knowledge and the rise of technology have
permitted the market economies of Western
nations to achieve unprecedented prosperity”
“knowledge creates economic resources”
Scientific American (1990)
Although it may appear to be a rather esoteric
area, the philosophy underpinning how we go
about “doing science” is critical as it underpins
the basis (and indeed reliability) of scientific
discovery in a world where technology is
increasingly important.
“The philosophy of science is about as useful to
scientists as ornithology is to birds.”
– R. Feynman
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