Foundations of scientific research (Foundations of Research Activities) (original) (raw)

Theoretical and Experimental Approaches in Scientific Studies

Theoretical and Experimental Approaches in Scientific Studies, 2024

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METHODOLOGY OF SCIENCE: TREATISES, HANDBOOKS AND TEXTS

Literature in or about the methodology of science is analyzed and classified with attention to different criteria. It is shown that the attempts at classification do not render exact results - a clear-cut partition of the "classified" set. Nevertheless, some learning is achieved by the roundabouts of the analysis, even as to put into question some supposedly robust concepts that ask for a revision.

BASIC CONCEPTS IN HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE

This section intends to present a conceptual analysis of basic terms in the history and philosophy of science. The history and philosophy of science is a study of the gradual development of the entire series of human activities which has culminated in what is now termed science. As can be seen and expected, the terms, “History”, Philosophy” and “Science”, stare us in the face begging for explanations. We shall, therefore, analyze these terms in their nuances and ramifications. The question of science, what science is and what it exists for will be presented. There will be an attempt to analyze “scientific method” and distinguish it from “scientific technique”. The features and goals of science will also be discussed here. The notions of facts, hypothesis, scientific theory and scientific law will be briefly explained. With an analysis on the scientific method, we shall realize that the scientific process involves inductive reasoning in the most part and a quantum of deduction. There will be a cursory explanation of the nature and place of philosophy of science.

Literature extract from: V. V. Nalimov: Faces of Science, ISI Press 1981

1981

Literature extract from V. V. Nalimov: Faces of Science, ISI Press 1981 Disclaimer: The literaure extract was gathered purely and subjective according the interests of the author (Manfred Bundschuh). Usually there were complete sentences from the original transferred. There's no guarantee for correctness. The book is the 2nd of three. 1st: In the labyrints of language -a mathematician's journey. 3rd: Realms of the Unconsciousness. Space, Time and Life. A 4th book of this excellent Russion Scientist which I extracted: The Probabilistic Pathways of Evolution. The book is about what is science and: the change in sciences from determinism to chance. Topics dealt with: Karl Popper, Thomas Kuhn, Kurt Gödel, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Niels Bohr, Norbert Wiener inter alia. Other topics: The mathematization of knowledge, viewpoints of Indian philosophy, history of the Teaching of chance, reducing of information by unfolding. Here follow 32 pages of extract. Contents: 1. FOREWORD (BY R. G. COLODNY) 2 1.1 SCIENCE IS AN ONGOING ENTERPRISE 2 1.2 „SCIENTIFIC CREATIVITY AS A MANIFESTATION OF INTELLECTUAL REBELLION: A BAYESIAN APPROACH TO THE PROBLEM.“ 2 2. PREFACE 3 3. THE STATE OF SCIENCE 3 3.1 PROBLEMS 4 3.2 HYPOTHESES 4 3.3 POPPER’S SECOND PARADOX 5 3.4 PARADIGMS 6 3.5 POPPER’S THIRD PARADOX: 7 3.6 POPPERS FOURTH PARADOX 8 4. SCIENTIFIC AND NON-SCIENTIFIC CONCEPTIONS 8 5. PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE 9 5.1 POPPER’S CRITICAL REALISM 10 5.2 POPPER’S PRECISION OF HIS STRUCTURES. 11 5.3 SCIENTIFIC CREATIVITY 12 5.4 MATHEMATICS AS A LANGUAGE 13 5.5 APPLIED MATHEMATICS 13 5.6 MATHEMATICAL MODELS 15 6. PROBABILISTIC CONCEPTS 16 6.1 HISTORY OF THE TEACHING OF CHANCE 17 6.2 RANDOMNESS AND CHANCE 18 7. SCIENCE AS A SELF-ORGANIZED SYSTEM 20 7.1 GÖDEL'S THEOREM 21 7.2 SCIENTIFIC LANGUAGE 21 7.3 SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION 22 7.4 SELF-RESTRICTIONS IN SCIENCE 23 7.5 THE CONCEPT OF THE LOGICAL TRUTH OF STATEMENTS 24 7.6 MATHEMATICAL STATISTICS AS THE SCIENCE OF REDUCTION OF DATA. 24 7.7 THREE SOURCES OF UNCERTAINTY 25 7.8 SIMULATING COMPLEX SYSTEMS 26 7.9 THE PROBLEM OF MAN 27 7.10 FORECASTS 28 8. OUTLOOK 29 8.1 THE MOTIVATION OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR 29 8.2 THE IDEA OF COGNIZABILITY 30

My Research: An Overview and Some Links

For various reasons I could not store a number of papers on my Academia webpage. If you download this document you can find links to most of my works, as well as to some extra material.

Analysis as the starting point for the development of scientific research

IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, 2019

The development of scientific research in a given field requires firstly an analysis of the known aspects found in a certain connection with the problem to solve. There are distinct analysis scientific methods that are able to systematically highlight the current level of the known information in a given field and to offer suggestions for the problem-solving. A short presentation of some such analysis scientific methods was approached in this paper. As proper analysis methods, the systemic analysis, the SWOT analysis, the Ishikawa diagram, the ideas diagram analysis, and the axiomatic design were taken into consideration. A comparison of these analysis methods facilitated the emphasis of some common and distinct aspects specific to these analysis methods.