The norms of science, and its structure -- Popper and Kuhn, and their conceptions of what science is -- Laboratory life : Bruno Latour and rhetoric in science -- Is the scientific paper a fraud? The place of hypotheses and their falsification -- The birth of neuroendocrinology and the "stuff of legend" : a case study of paradigm change -- The language of crisis and controversy, and the levers of paradigm change -- Logical positivism : the flawed belief that the truth of scientific statements can be established by verification -- Ambiguity of scientific terms and the construction of meaning -- The totality of evidence : weighing different types of evidence -- Exaggerated claims, semantic flexibility, and nonsense -- Complexity and its problems for causal narratives -- Publication and citation : a complex system -- A case study of a field in evolution : oxytocin, from birth to behavior -- Where are the facts? -- Organized skepticism in science -- Webs of belief : citation networks -- Unintended consequences : publication and citation bias -- High-impact papers : citation rates, citation distortions, and mis-citation -- Are most research published research findings false? Weaknesses in the design of experiments and the analysis of their outcomes -- Societal and economic impact of basic research -- Lost in citation -- Conviction, expectations, and uncertainty in science -- Journals, impact factors, and their corrupting influence on science -- The narrative fallacy : how a good story beats rigor and balance -- Scholarship.
Summary:
"Modern science faces a series of problems that undermine confidence in its reliability. To solve these problems, we must reflect on what makes science work and what leads it astray. This book is about Science, its strengths and weaknesses. The papers that scientists write form a vast resource of evidence and theory that is doubling about every ten years, along with the number of scientists. The size of this resource makes it hard for it to be used effectively by scientists, and along with this are growing concerns about its integrity and reliability. This book looks at the scientific method, as currently applied and as understood philosophically by scientists, the social structure of science, and the structure of scientific communication through journals. It includes case studies of controversies, and looks at how fields develop over time"-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.