Basics of Research Methods for Everyone

elective courses

(in Polish) otwarty umysł i ciekawość świata uczestnika zajeć

These classes are intended to familiarize students both with the basics of the scientific method and (more broadly) with the scientific attitude, i.e. the rational attitude towards the entire reality that surrounds us. I recommend the classes to people who want to better understand the difference between "scientific" and "unscientific" and "pseudoscientific" - in every aspect of this distinction. Classes can also be useful for people who want to more consciously apply the scientific methodology in their own research or simply better understand what results from a given scientific article.

The aim of the course is to show the relationship between the four fundamental ideas of scientific cognition and their often erroneous implementation in practice. In the course of the course, we will look at the achievement (and failure) of what we will call the ideas of the ("trueness, "precision", "university" and "simplicity") both in science and in every human attempt to know reality. We will work on real reports on the state of knowledge about the world, i.e. analyze the methodological correctness (meeting the “4 rules”) of academic articles and popular texts.

We will try to show that errors in research practice result not only from ignorance of the four basic principles describing good science, but also from erroneous, purely superficial understanding of these principles, despite their apparent knowledge ("scientific cargo cult").

A significant part of the area of interest of contemporary empirical science is the zone of uncertainty and approximations - the probabilistic nature calculated in today's scientific view of the world is an additional impediment to the full understanding and implementation of the ideal of scientific correctness. So we will devote a lot of time to probabilistic reformulation of the classical understanding of the four classical ideas of science.

Gell-Mann Murray (1996) Kwark i Jaguar. Warszawa: CIS

Karl Popper (2002) Logika odkrycia naukowego. Warszawa: Aletheia

Wieczorkowska, G. (2003). Statystyka. Wprowadzenie do analizy danych sondażowych i eksperymentalnych. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Scholar.

Gohen. J. Stewart J. (1994) Załamanie chaosu. Odkrywanie prostoty w złożonym świecie. Warszawa: Prószyński i S-ka.

. knowledge

After completing the classes, the participant should:

1.1 know the basic axioms of the scientific approach to the description of reality

1.2 know what are the limitations of this approach, distinguish areas of uncertainty and doubt

2. skills

After completing the classes, the participant should be able to apply the above knowledge:

2.1 in scientific practice - when analyzing own research

2.2 in scientific practice and, more broadly, in everyday life - when reading and using scientific or popular articles

3. social competences

The participant of the classes should after their completion

3.1 be able to independently transfer the knowledge and skills acquired in the course of the classes

critical methodological analysis of the selected text