What is Science Research Methods AIM: What is Science?

What is Science

Research MethodsAIM: What is Science?

What do we think we know and why do we think we know it


Will it fall?


Can you PROVEit?


Levels of Uncertainty


Can you prove that I amstanding here?



Can you prove that I amstanding here?


How do we get as close to the truth as possible?


methodThe scientific


Fig. 1.3A


Fig. 1.3A


Fig. 1.3A


We are always doing science…


The Earth sure looks flat…


Tentative and Fallible


Scientific finding are tentativeConclusions

and can be incorrect


The more data we collect to support Conclusions

a hypothesis,The less uncertain we are about itscorrectness.


Because the level of uncertainty canConclusions

NEVER be zeroWe can never be certain of anything

and therefore…


Conclusions

we don’t know anything for sure and what we do know might not be true!



Graph level of uncertainty vs. observable data


Guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

DOUBT!(There can always be another explanation)


The greatest tool of the scientist:

To make observations that break or add to the current hypotheses/theories getting us one step closer to the…

TRUTH

The job of the scientist:

So is this class really aboutscience?


GODand

Science


Basic vs. Applied Research


Quotes concerning basic research


1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Fig. 1.3A


What do scientists do with their results?

Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary scientific literature


Primary literature1. Articles that present NEW data


2. Contains personal views of experimenters about the data3. Are Peer reviewed

Primary literature general format


1. Title2. Abstract (summary)

3. Introduction (Background) 4. Material and Methods

5. Results 6. Discussion7. Conclusion

8. Acknowledgements 9. References (citations)

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/

The process to get published


The author list and the order of the authors, what does it mean?


If you found one paper, you really found dozens….


How to get into a summer lab…Guest speaker? Student who has done this.


The process to become a professor/scientist


The hierarchy of scientific journals and impact factors


Getting funding – Grants, grants, grants“Publish or perish”


Secondary literature1. Derived from primary literature


Ex. Reviews, textbooks2. NOT Peer reviewed – less reliable

Tertiary literature1. Derived from primary literature and secondary literature


Ex. Reference books2. NOT Peer reviewed

Ranking of source reliability


1. primary articles in journals/periodicals (e.g., Nature, Science, Evolution, Cell) 2. primary articles in books 3. review articles in journals/periodicals 4. book chapters 5. textbooks 6. articles in popular-press periodicals (e.g., Natural History, Scientific American) 7. articles in magazines (e.g., Vogue) 8. newspaper articles 9. laboratory manuals 10. product manuals 11. brochures 12. lecture notes 13. personal communications (e-mail, telephone, etc.) with scientists 14. web sites, rumors, hearsay, voices in your head 15. outright fabrications

How do we find primary/secondary journal articles?


1. Electronic Databases2. Searching in a specific journal3. Use citations from another paper

Obtaining articles:


1. Check if the online journal offers free articles

2. Interlibrary loan system If not…

How to use the Interlibrary loan system:


1. Print out ONLY the abstract of the article with volume/issue information (1 page)

How to use the Interlibrary loan system:


2. Put your full name and period on the print out

DO NOT BUY ARTICLES!!

3. Bring to DrT for approval signature4. Turn in to Mr. Reader (Librarian)

Citing sources…why?


1. It is someone else’s intellectual property2. It lends credibility to your work3. Enables readers to locate your information sources

Citing sources…what?


Whenever you use someone else’s intellectual property:

* Exact words (quoting) * Paraphrasing * Concepts and ideas * Facts that are not common knowledge * Pictures, photos, poems, cartoons, or other artwork you did not create yourself

Citing sources…kinds of sources?


* Books * Articles (from print sources or from online article databases) * Interviews * E-mail or any other correspondence * Web pages * Government documents * Non-print media (videotapes, audiotapes, pictures and images) * Software or any digital formats

Citing sources…how?


We will use the APA (American Psychological Association) format in research methodsIt has been shown that apes do not actually understand the

syntax and structure of ASL (Smith, 1994, p. 345).

Example in text citation:

Smith, J.A. (1994). Finding ways to overcome college stress. Stress Reliever, 24, 12-16.

Example reference:

What about Wikipedia?


Plagiarism


* to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own * to use (another's production) without crediting the source * to commit literary theft * to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source.

Plagiarism is an act of fraud. It involves stealing someone else's work and lying about it afterward.


All of the following are considered plagiarism:

* turning in someone else's work as your own * copying words or ideas from someone else without giving credit * failing to put a quotation in quotation marks * giving incorrect information about the source of a quotation * changing words but copying the sentence structure of a source without giving credit * copying so many words or ideas from a source that it makes up the majority of your work, whether you give credit or not

Most cases of plagiarism can be avoided by citing sources.

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What is Science Research Methods AIM: What is Science?