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The matter of facts : skepticism, persuasion, and evidence in science / Gareth Leng and Rhodri Ivor Leng.

By: Contributor(s): Material type: TextTextPublisher: Cambridge, Massachusetts : The MIT Press, [2020]Description: xv, 360 pages : illustrations ; 21 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780262043885
  • 0262043882
Subject(s):
Contents:
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.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Dr. James Carlson Library NonFiction 507.2 L566 Available 33111009821238
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

How biases, the desire for a good narrative, reliance on citation metrics, and other problems undermine confidence in modern science. Modern science is built on experimental evidence, yet scientists are often very selective in deciding what evidence to use and tend to disagree about how to interpret it. In The Matter of Facts , Gareth and Rhodri Leng explore how scientists produce and use evidence. They do so to contextualize an array of problems confronting modern science that have raised concerns about its reliability- the widespread use of inappropriate statistical tests, a shortage of replication studies, and a bias in both publishing and citing "positive" results. Before these problems can be addressed meaningfully, the authors argue, we must understand what makes science work and what leads it astray.
The myth of science is that scientists constantly challenge their own thinking. But in reality, all scientists are in the business of persuading other scientists of the importance of their own ideas, and they do so by combining reason with rhetoric. Often, they look for evidence that will support their ideas, not for evidence that might contradict them; often, they present evidence in a way that makes it appear to be supportive; and often, they ignore inconvenient evidence.
In a series of essays focusing on controversies, disputes, and discoveries, the authors vividly portray science as a human activity, driven by passion as well as by reason. By analyzing the fluidity of scientific concepts and the dynamic and unpredictable development of scientific fields, the authors paint a picture of modern science and the pressures it faces.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

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.

"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.

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