Category Archives: ethics

Research integrity

Posted on April 9, 2017 by

I noticed, via a tweet from Judith Curry, that the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee is holding an inquiry into Research Integrity. I also encountered this written evidence by Michael J Kelly, Emeritus Prince Philip Professor of Technology, … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, ClimateBall, ethics, Research, Science, The philosophy of science, The scientific method | Tagged , , , , , , | 33 Comments

It’s okay to lie?

Posted on April 1, 2017 by

The House of Commons Science and Technology committee have just concluded an inquiry into science communication. One of those who presented evidence was David Whitehouse of the Global Warming Policy Foundation. David Whitehouse’s evidence focussed mainly on science journalism, and … Continue reading →

Posted in ClimateBall, ethics, Policy, Politics, Science | Tagged , , , , , , | 199 Comments

Bias in science

Posted on March 26, 2017 by

There are quite often claims that there are significant biases in science and that this is strongly influencing research results. Typically this is based on known problems in certain fields; the replication crisis in psychology, or the failure to publish … Continue reading →

Posted in ethics, physicists, Research, Science, The philosophy of science, The scientific method | Tagged , , , , , | 142 Comments

Informing versus convincing

Posted on March 11, 2017 by

I want to clarify something about yesterday’s post that seems to have at least got one person up in arms. The key point that I was trying to get across (and that I think is the same as Michael Tobis’s … Continue reading →

Posted in ClimateBall, ethics, Global warming, Research, Science, The scientific method | Tagged , , , , , , | 115 Comments

Advocacy and scientific credibility

Posted on March 4, 2017 by

To the surprise of few, I suspect, it appears that scientists can advocate without damaging their, or the scientific community’s, credibility. It’s reported in this paper, [d]oes Engagement in Advocacy Hurt the Credibility of Scientists? and is discussed in this … Continue reading →

Posted in advocacy, ethics, Policy, Politics, Research, Science, The philosophy of science, The scientific method | Tagged , , , , | 56 Comments

Doing science

Posted on February 8, 2017 by

This whole furore about Karl et al. has got me thinking more about how we actually conduct science/research. There is, I think, a perception that doing science/research involves following a fairly well defined set of procedures about which there should … Continue reading →

Posted in ethics, Research, Science, The philosophy of science, The scientific method | Tagged , , , , | 9 Comments

Expose: David Rose does not understand baselines

Posted on February 5, 2017 by

Never failing to disappoint, David Rose is back with a new expose on how world leaders were duped into investing billions over manipulated global warming data. It refers to a paper published by Karl et al. in 2015 in which … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, ClimateBall, ethics, Research, The scientific method, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 282 Comments