Methodology Of Scientific Research Programmes Research Articles

The methodology of scientific research programmes - An Overview

Recenzie: Imre Lakatos, The Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes, Philosophical papers, volumul I, editată de John Worrall și Gregory Currie, Cambridge University Press, 1995, ISBN 0-521-28031-1, paperback Metodologia programelor de cercetare științifică este o colecție de lucrări publicate de-a lungul timpului, în care Imre Lakatos exprimă o revizuire radicală a criteriului de demarcație al lui Popper între știință și neștiință, conducând la o teorie nouă a raționalității științifice.

On the Open Style of Architectural Reasoning

This article departs from Ian Hacking’s concept of ‘styles of reasoning’ to argue that open architecture is not necessarily an ontological, but rather a methodological category, and that in order to understand open architecture we require an appropriate style of architectural reasoning. Stanford Anderson’s approach to Imre Lakatos’s methodology of scientific research programmes in architecture is used to develop the idea that a precise style of reasoning forms an explicit understanding of architectural openness, and is elaborated further using Michael Hays’s notion of critical architecture as an alternative approach to open architecture, which is free from any predetermined logic. The article concludes with an attempt to identify similarities between the work of Anderson and Hays as a basis for an open style of architectural reasoning.

Progressive and degenerative journals: on the growth and appraisal of knowledge in scholarly publishing.

Despite continued attention, finding adequate criteria for distinguishing "good" from "bad" scholarly journals remains an elusive goal. In this essay, I propose a solution informed by the work of Imre Lakatos and his methodology of scientific research programmes (MSRP). I begin by reviewing several notable attempts at appraising journal quality - focusing primarily on the impact factor and development of journal blacklists and whitelists. In doing so, I note their limitations and link their overarching goals to those found within the philosophy of science. I argue that Lakatos's MSRP and specifically his classifications of "progressive" and "degenerative" research programmes can be analogized and repurposed for the evaluation of scholarly journals. I argue that this alternative framework resolves some of the limitations discussed above and offers a more considered evaluation of journal quality - one that helps account for the historical evolution of journal-level publication practices and attendant contributions to the growth (or stunting) of scholarly knowledge. By doing so, the seeming problem of journal demarcation is diminished. In the process I utilize two novel tools (the mistake index and scite index) to further illustrate and operationalize aspects of the MSRP.

Why Imre Lakatos’s Account of Science is Superior

An important question that has always been debated in philosophy of science concerns that of the best account of science. Ranging from multiple accounts, from Karl Popper, Thomas Kuhn, and Imre Lakatos, etc., an argument of how Lakatos’s Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes (MSRP) is the best account of science will be defended. In addition, the best account of scientific evidence and explanation – featuring philosophers from Lakatos, Peter Achinstein, Nancy Cartwright, and Philip Kitcher – is presented in support of Lakatos’s MSRP. Furthermore, using the scientific theory of continental drift, proposed by Alfred L. Wegener, will illustrate how Wegener’s theory fits well with Lakatos’s account of science.

Religious knowledge in the light of Kuhn’s and Lakatos’ methodological conceptions

The article based on Kuhn’s paradigmatic approach and Lakatos’ methodology of scientific research programmes, analyses certain aspects of selected cognitive functions of religous beliefs. Our approach is based on the search for angalogy between scientific theories on one hand and systems of religious beliefs on the other hand. Contemporary philosophy of science demonstrates that scientific models are the products of creative analogous immagination, data are theory-laden, theories as a whole are resistent to falsification and it is hard (if at all) to find reliable criterions for the selection of a paradigm. These «subjective features» are more evident within religion, since a wider range of models, greater impact of interpretations on data, greater arduousness in regard to the commitment to a paradigm and more ambiguity in the process of the selection of a paradigm, exist in this area. However, with each of these features, I see the difference between science and religion in their degree and not in absolute contrast.

Multiple Streams Framework as Scientific Research Program and Tool for the Analysis of Public Policy Issues

Abstract The Multiple Streams Framework (MSF) is currently one of the most widely used frameworks in policy process research. It explains how policy agenda develops in the policy process with emphasis on policy adoption. This article examines MSF from the perspective of the history of science and Lakatos’ methodology of scientific research programs. In this respect, we consider MSF a “semi-strong theory” that uses a form of subsumption under theory for scientific explanation. This differs from a “strong” explanatory theory (e.g., physics), which uses explanations in the form of subsumption under scientific law. From the point of view of Lakatos’ methodology, MSF represents a scientific research program. The basic element is a hard core given mainly by the MSF hypothesis for the framework as a whole and MSF assumptions and key structural elements. Around the hard core there is a protective belt of auxiliary hypotheses. They correspond to hypotheses related to the framework’s key elements and to the hypothesis for the framework as a whole. MSF has negative heuristics (prohibition of the use of the modus tollens rule) and positive heuristics, which are represented by a set of theoretically and empirically progressive theories that further develop the MSF research program. An analysis of studies on MSF reveals that single hypotheses are only exceptionally tested using “hard” data and quantitative methods. Qualitative analysis (case studies) predominates, which contributes to the development of MSF theory. Therefore, we can consider a progressive shift in theory. In this respect, MSF can be considered a successful research program. However, in terms of the methodology of scientific research programs, MSF has a number of other opportunities to develop hypothesis testing further and use various modelling methods with data sets. Thus, MSF represents an interesting scientific research program, which needs to be further developed and specified in the spirit of the methodology of scientific research programs, It is a challenge for interdisciplinary research in the field of social sciences.

Introduction to the Special Issue on Lakatos’ Undone Work

Abstract We give an overview of Lakatos’ life, his philosophy of mathematics and science, as well as of this issue. Firstly, we briefly delineate Lakatos’ key contributions to philosophy: his anti-formalist philosophy of mathematics, and his methodology of scientific research programmes in the philosophy of science. Secondly, we outline the themes and structure of the masterclass Lakatos’ Undone Work – The Practical Turn and the Division of Philosophy of Mathematics and Philosophy of Science​, which gave rise to this special issue. Lastly, we provide a summary of the contributions to this issue.

Degeneration and Entropy

Abstract Lakatos’s analysis of progress and degeneration in the Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes is well-known. Less known, however, are his thoughts on degeneration in Proofs and Refutations. I propose and motivate two new criteria for degeneration based on the discussion in Proofs and Refutations – superfluity and authoritarianism. I show how these criteria augment the account in Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes, providing a generalized Lakatosian account of progress and degeneration. I then apply this generalized account to a key transition point in the history of entropy – the transition to an information-theoretic interpretation of entropy – by assessing Jaynes’s 1957 paper on information theory and statistical mechanics.

The epistemology of international politics: offensive realism and the Neorealist Scientific Research Program

What follows is a much-needed appraisal of the current state of scientificity and progressiveness in the study of international politics. Imre Lakatos’ Methodology of Scientific Research Programs will provide the epistemological grounds. Three broad claims will be made and supported: (i) Waltz’s neorealism is not an isolated theory of international politics, but a proper scientific research program; (ii) Mearsheimer’s offensive realism too is not an isolated theory, but a set of theoretical amendments to the Neorealist Scientific Research Program’s protective belt; and (iii) the offensive-realist theoryshift is both theoretically and empirically progressive.

Public Finance and the Methodology of Scientific Research Programs

Public Finance and the Methodology of Scientific Research Programs

How Well Does Evolution Explain Endogenous Retroviruses?-A Lakatosian Assessment.

One of the most sophisticated philosophies of science is the methodology of scientific research programmes (MSRP), developed by Imre Lakatos. According to MSRP, scientists are working within so-called research programmes, consisting of a hard core of fixed convictions and a flexible protective belt of auxiliary hypotheses. Anomalies are accommodated by changes to the protective belt that do not affect the hard core. Under MSRP, research programmes are appraised as ‘progressive’ if they successfully predict novel facts but are judged as ‘degenerative’ if they merely offer ad hoc solutions to anomalies. This paper applies these criteria to the evolutionary research programme as it has performed during half a century of ERV research. It describes the early history of the field and the emergence of the endogenization-amplification theory on the origins of retroviral-like sequences. It then discusses various predictions and postdictions that were generated by the programme, regarding orthologous ERVs in different species, the presence of target site duplications and the divergence of long terminal repeats, and appraises how the programme has dealt with data that did not conform to initial expectations. It is concluded that the evolutionary research programme has been progressive with regard to the issues here examined.

Structure of the Corporate Growth Paradigms

The paper justifies and describes the paradigms that organize hypotheses, theories and models of organizational growth into groups and determines the fundamental principles, avenues and methodology of organizational growth studies. The methodological framework includes Kuhn’s concept of paradigm with Lakatos’s Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes that allows identifying the methodological core of growth paradigms. Theoretical generalizations underlying the research are presented as organizational growth concepts and combined into three paradigms on the basis of the theoretical and methodological principles of each paradigms and make up the core of each of them. Through this, the author justifies the causal paradigm that views an organization as a deterministic and mechanistic system focused on establishing development regularities that describe one-to-one causal relationships between the elements and subsystems of a company, and emphasizes two paradigms founded on the ideas about an organization as an organic system capable of developing itself and increasing its complexity. The first of the two paradigms is the growth outcome paradigm, the theories and models of which deal with organizational growth as a natural process, similar to growth and evolution of biological organisms (ontogenesis). At that, the primary research objective within this paradigm is to identify innovations typical of each new stage of a company’s life cycle and to create favorable conditions for their introduction. The other paradigm is the process paradigm that asks how growth affects organizational structure and internal processes.

Science and Religion: A New Introduction, 3rd ed.

Science and Religion: A New Introduction, 3rd ed.

Methodology of model development in the applied sciences

The formulation and validation of mathematical models in the applied sciences are largely consistent with the methodology of scientific research programmes (MSRP), however an essential modification is necessary: The domain of calibration has to be defined. The ranking and systematic improvement of mathematical models based on objective criteria are described and illustrated by an example. The methodology outlined in this paper provides a framework for the evolutionary development of a large class of mathematical models.

Analysis of research programs: a sociological perspective

The origins and content of the methodology of scientific research programs of I. Lakatos are considered taking into account the problems and tasks of the history of sociology. The reception of the methodology of research programs in sociology can be explained by the relevance of the analytical model of the structure and dynamics of the research program in the analysis of sociological knowledge. Within the framework of sociological knowledge, metatheoretical, theoretical and empirical structural levels are analytically distinguished. Certain structural analogies are observed: between the “hard core” and “negative heuristics” of the research program, on the one hand, and metatheory, on the other; between the “protective belt” and the “positive heuristic” of the research program, on the one hand, and theory, on the other; between the empirical content of the research program, on the one hand, and the empirical basis of sociology, on the other. One can observe a number of analogies in the dynamics of functional connections between the structural components of the research program, on the one hand, and the dynamics of functional connections between metatheorizing, theorizing, and empirical analysis in sociology, on the other.

Methodology of Scientific Reseacrh Programmes Imre Lakatos: Implikasi Terhadap Studi dan Pendidikan Islam

The development of the scientific world and human thought patterns are increasing, starting from something abstract to something real and can be proven. Along with these developments, positivistic epistemology has mastered the science and the study of the philosophy of science in almost all regions. Thus giving birth to new paradigms and discoveries. Even so, there are still several problems. With this remaining problem, it gave birth to thinkers in the twentieth century who wanted new studies in the philosophy of science, such as Karl R. Poper (1902-1994) with three main themes, namely, the issue of induction, problems and standards and problems of the third world, and Thoma S. Kuhn (1922-1996) came up with a revolutionary idea of science which was marked by the process of shifting the old paradigm to the new one. But in between, Imre Lakatos comes with the Methodology of Scientific Research Programs which contains several important elements, first, the Core Program (hard-core), which is the basis of the Lakatos methodology which is the initial assumption of research or scientific research that cannot be replaced or modified. Second, the protective circle (protective belt), this function is to withstand various attacks, testing and obtaining adjustments, even changes, and understanding, to defend the hardcore. Third, a series of theories, namely the relationship between the theory and the next theory, which is the result of the auxiliary clauses added from the previous theory. These three elements have their respective duties and roles in developing science. So in general it can be said that the benefits of a research program are determined by the extent to which scientists can develop findings or even become useless.Keywords: Research Program Methodology, Islamic Studies, Islamic Education

Examining progression and degeneration of nursing science using Imre Lakatos’s methodology of scientific research programs

AbstractOver the years, nursing research and practice have been through remarkable transformations in response to evolving and emerging healthcare systems and practices. Regarding research, nurses moved beyond merely using the quantitative methodology to combining qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods. In practice, nurses have transitioned from the delivery of medical‐based care to nursing theory‐guided practice, evidence‐based practice, knowledge translation and transformative practice. Some domains of nursing research and practice became progressive, while others degenerated. This paper aims to examine how different domains of nursing research and practice progress and degenerate using Imre Lakatos's methodology of scientific research programs. Lakatos differentiated scientific and pseudoscientific knowledge and coined the idea of scientific research programs. He believed that science in any discipline develops so that some programs are more progressive and others’ degenerative. The degeneration and progression of programs occur steadily and rationally and are determined based on the extent of development and programs’ potential to predict new solutions to old problems. Adopting this idea could enable nurses to critically analyse research programs in everyday knowledge development to use valid and legitimate programs for informing nursing practice.

Is the secularization research programme progressing? Debate on Jörg Stolz’s article on Secularization theories in the 21st century: ideas, evidence, and problems

The methodology of scientific research programmes, developed by Imre Lakatos, can help us to identify which theories are strong or weak. Applying this approach suggests that the secularization research programme is progressing, as Stolz argues. Some of the recent advances have been more successful than others, however. In particular, we have done better at understanding how secularization happens than why it happens.

Appraisal of certain methodologies in cognitive science based on Lakatos’s methodology of scientific research programmes

Attempts to apply the mathematical tools of dynamical systems theory to cognition in a systematic way has been well under way since the early 90s and has been recognised as a “third contender” to computationalist and connectionist approaches (Eliasmith in Philos Psychol 9(4):441–463, 1996). Nevertheless, it was also realised that such an application will not lead to a solid paradigm as straightforwardly as was initially hoped (Eliasmith 1996; van Leeuwen in Minds Mach 15:271–333, 2005). In this paper I explicate a method for assessing such proposals by drawing upon Lakatos’s (in: Lakatos, Musgrave (eds) Criticism and the growth of knowledge, Cambridge University Press, London, pp 91–195, 1970) methodology of scientific research programs (hereafter: “MSRP”). MSRP focuses on the heuristics of a particular field and gauges the model/theory building stratagems by reference to theoretical and empirical progress, on the one hand, and the continuity and the autonomy of the way the field’s heuristic generates its series of models/theories, on the other. The requirement of continuity and autonomy afford distinct senses of ad hoc-ness, which serve as an effective tool to detect various subtleties which may otherwise be missed: the present approach identifies shortcomings missed by Chemero’s (Radical embodied cognitive science, The MIT Press, Cambridge, 2009) radical embodied cognitive science and falsifies Chemero’s claim that the methodological powers of his model-based account is on a par with computationalism. In general, I claim that MSRP is relevant to current methodological issues in cognitive science and can supplement debates regarding “local” assessments of methodologies, such as that between mechanical versus covering-law explanations. MSRP must at least be viewed as a necessary constraint for any methodological considerations in cognitive science.

Model-groups as scientific research programmes

Lakatos’s methodology of scientific research programmes centres around series of theories, with little regard to the role of models in theory construction. Modifying it to incorporate model-groups, clusters of developmental models that are intended to become new theories, provides a description of the model dynamics within the search for physics beyond the standard model. At the moment, there is no evidence for BSM physics, despite a concerted search effort especially focused around the standard model account of electroweak symmetry breaking (also known as the Higgs mechanism). Using the framework provided by Lakatosian research programmes, we can capture the way the periphery of a model-group changes as the available parameter space shrinks, while its central tenets remain untouched by unfavourable experimental findings. By way of motivation, I provide two case studies of model-groups that offer alternative mechanisms for electroweak symmetry breaking: supersymmetry and composite-Higgs models. Both of these model-groups are under pressure from the discovery of the Higgs boson, yet they have both been active research projects in the years after the Higgs discovery. However, a proper assessment of the progress of an ongoing research programme is impossible through a purely Lakatosian lens, so I propose replacing it with Laudan’s problem-solving account, which provides ongoing assessment, while offering normative guidance concerning the pursuit-worthiness of research programmes. My incorporation of model-groups into Lakatosian research programmes captures the developments of two attempts to expand our physical description of the world, and Laudan’s problem-solving rationality allows us to assess their pursuit-worthiness.