scientific knowledge – InfoDoc MicroVeille

Authors : Oskar Marg, Lena Theiler

Transdisciplinary research (TDR) is conceptualized as not only providing societal effects but also benefiting academia. However, recent literature on the evaluation of TDR has focused almost entirely on the societal effects of TDR. A discussion of the scientific effects of TDR is needed to do justice to the potential of this research mode.

To date, little empirical research has focused on the effects of TDR on science. Our explorative study addresses this gap. The empirical basis are qualitative interviews with scientists engaged in transdisciplinary research and anchored in three sub-disciplines: environmental sociology, sustainable chemistry, and participatory health research.

We identify as main effects of the transdisciplinary research mode: changes in the understanding of scientific problems, changes in the quality of scientific insights, and the promotion of a reflexive turn in science.

URL : Effects of transdisciplinary research on scientific knowledge and reflexivity

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1093/reseval/rvad033

Author : Henry Small

In the book Laboratory Life Latour and Woolgar present an account of how scientific “facts” are formed through a process of microsocial interactions among individuals and “inscription devices” in the lab initially described as social construction.

The process moves through a series of steps during which the details and nature of the object become more and more certain until all qualifications are dropped, and the “fact” emerges as secure scientific knowledge. An alternative to this account is described based on a Bayesian probabilistic framework which arrives at the same end point.

The motive force for the constructivist approach appears to involve social processes of convincing colleagues while the Bayesian approach relies on the consistency of theory and evidence as judged by the participants.

The role of social processes is discussed in Bayesian terms, the acquisition and asymmetry of information, and its analogy to puzzle solving. Some parallels between the Bayesian and constructivist accounts are noted especially in relation to information theory.

URL : Is scientific knowledge socially constructed? A Bayesian account of Laboratory Life

DOI : https://doi.org/10.3389/frma.2023.1214512