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Descriptive Research
Descriptive research is used to describe characteristics of a population or phenomenon being studied. It does not answer questions about how/when/why the characteristics occurred. Rather it addresses the "what" question (what are the characteristics of the population or situation being studied?). The characteristics used to describe the situation or population are usually some kind of categorical scheme also known as descriptive categories. For example, the periodic table categorizes the elements. Scientists use knowledge about the nature of electrons, protons and neutrons to devise this categorical scheme. We now take for granted the periodic table, yet it took descriptive research to devise it. Descriptive research generally precedes explanatory research. For example, over time the periodic table's description of the elements allowed scientists to explain chemical reaction and make sound prediction when elements were combined. Hence, descriptive research cannot describe what c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Statistical Population
In statistics, a population is a set of similar items or events which is of interest for some question or experiment. A statistical population can be a group of existing objects (e.g. the set of all stars within the Milky Way galaxy) or a hypothetical and potentially infinite group of objects conceived as a generalization from experience (e.g. the set of all possible hands in a game of poker). A population with finitely many values N in the support of the population distribution is a finite population with population size N. A population with infinitely many values in the support is called infinite population. A common aim of statistical analysis is to produce information about some chosen population. In statistical inference, a subset of the population (a statistical '' sample'') is chosen to represent the population in a statistical analysis. Moreover, the statistical sample must be unbiased and accurately model the population. The ratio of the size of this statistical ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Grimaldi (entomologist)
David A. Grimaldi (born September 22, 1957) is an entomologist and Curator of Invertebrate Zoology at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, New York, New York. He received his graduate training at Cornell University, where he earned his doctorate in Entomology in 1986. Grimaldi is an authority in many fields of insect systematics, paleontology, and evolutionary biology. Grimaldi is also an adjunct professor at Cornell University, Columbia University, and the City University of New York. Aside from numerous papers in scientific journals, Grimaldi is author of ''Amber: Window to the Past'', and of ''Evolution of the Insects'' (2005) with co-author Michael S. Engel. Honors and awards Some of Grimaldi's scientific honors include: * Thomas Say Award, Entomological Society of America, 2007 Eponymy The following is a selection of taxa that have been named for Grimaldi: *''Afrarchaea grimaldii'' Penney (a fossil archaeid spider in Burmese amber) *''Ambradolon grimald ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Procedural Knowledge
Procedural knowledge (also known as know-how, knowing-how, and sometimes referred to as practical knowledge, imperative knowledge, or performative knowledge) is the knowledge exercised in the performance of some task. Unlike descriptive knowledge (also known as declarative knowledge, propositional knowledge or "knowing-that"), which involves knowledge of specific facts or propositions (e.g. "I know that snow is white"), procedural knowledge involves one's ability to ''do'' something (e.g. "I know how to change a flat tire"). A person does not need to be able to verbally articulate their procedural knowledge in order for it to count as knowledge, since procedural knowledge requires only knowing how to correctly perform an action or exercise a skill. The term ''procedural knowledge'' has narrower but related technical uses in both cognitive psychology and intellectual property, intellectual property law. Overview Procedural knowledge (i.e., knowledge-how) is different from descrip ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Normative Science
In the applied sciences, normative science is a type of information that is developed, presented, or interpreted based on an assumed, usually unstated, preference for a particular outcome, policy or class of policies or outcomes. Regular or traditional science does not presuppose a policy preference, but normative science, by definition, does. Common examples of such policy preferences are arguments that pristine ecosystems are preferable to human altered ones, that native species are preferable to nonnative species, and that higher biodiversity is preferable to lower biodiversity.Wilhere, George F. (2012). "Inadvertent advocacy". ''Conservation Biology''. 26(1): 39–46. In more general philosophical terms, normative science is a form of inquiry, typically involving a community of inquiry and its accumulated body of provisional knowledge, that seeks to discover good ways of achieving recognized aims, ends, goals, objectives, or purposes. Many political debates revolve around a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Methodology
In its most common sense, methodology is the study of research methods. However, the term can also refer to the methods themselves or to the philosophical discussion of associated background assumptions. A method is a structured procedure for bringing about a certain goal, like acquiring knowledge or verifying knowledge claims. This normally involves various steps, like choosing a Sample (statistics), sample, Data collection, collecting data from this sample, and interpreting the data. The study of methods concerns a detailed description and analysis of these processes. It includes evaluative aspects by comparing different methods. This way, it is assessed what advantages and disadvantages they have and for what research goals they may be used. These descriptions and evaluations depend on philosophical background assumptions. Examples are how to conceptualize the studied phenomena and what constitutes evidence for or against them. When understood in the widest sense, methodology al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Applied Science
Applied science is the application of the scientific method and scientific knowledge to attain practical goals. It includes a broad range of disciplines, such as engineering and medicine. Applied science is often contrasted with basic science, which is focused on advancing scientific theories and laws that explain and predict natural or other phenomena. There are applied natural sciences, as well as applied formal and social sciences. Applied science examples include genetic epidemiology which applies statistics and probability theory, and applied psychology, including criminology. Applied research Applied research is the use of empirical methods to collect data for practical purposes. It accesses and uses accumulated theories, knowledge, methods, and techniques for a specific State (polity), state, Commerce, business, or customer, client-driven purpose. In contrast to engineering, applied research does not include analyses or optimization of business, economics, and costs. App ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Basic Research
Basic research, also called pure research, fundamental research, basic science, or pure science, is a type of scientific research with the aim of improving scientific theories for better understanding and prediction of natural or other phenomena. In contrast, applied research uses scientific theories to develop technology or techniques, which can be used to intervene and ''alter'' natural or other phenomena. Though often driven simply by curiosity,"Curiosity creates cures: The value and impact of basic research , National Institute of General Medical Sciences, |
Design Science
Design science refers to a scientific, i.e. rational and systematic, approach to designing. An early concept of design science was introduced in 1957 by R. Buckminster Fuller who defined it as a systematic form of designing which he applied especially in innovative engineering design. The concept has been more broadly defined by the Design Science journal as “quantitative and qualitative research in the creation of artifacts and systems, and their embedding in our physical, virtual, psychological, economic, and social environment”. Design-science relationship There has been recurrent concern to differentiate design from science. Nigel Cross differentiated between scientific design, design science and a science of design. A science of design (the scientific study of design) does not require or assume that the acts of designing are themselves scientific, and an increasing number of research programs take this view. To some extent the two uses of the term design science (systemati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ilkka Niiniluoto
Ilkka Maunu Olavi Niiniluoto (born 12 March 1946) is a Finnish philosopher and mathematician, serving as a professor of philosophy at the University of Helsinki since 1981. He was appointed as rector of the University of Helsinki on 1 August 2003 for five years. On 25 April 2008, he was chosen to succeed Kari Raivio as chancellor of the University of Helsinki, beginning 1 June 2008. Work A significant contribution to the philosophy of science, particularly to the topic of verisimilitude In philosophy, verisimilitude (or truthlikeness) is the notion that some propositions are closer to being true than other propositions. The problem of verisimilitude is the problem of articulating what it takes for one false theory to be close ... or truth approximation, is his ''Truthlikeness'' (Synthese Library, Springer, 1987). Another notable publication is ''Critical Scientific Realism'' (Oxford University Press, 2002). In the 1990s, Niiniluoto among other university employees organi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philosophy Of Physics
In philosophy, the philosophy of physics deals with conceptual and interpretational issues in physics, many of which overlap with research done by certain kinds of theoretical physicists. Historically, philosophers of physics have engaged with questions such as the nature of space, time, matter and the laws that govern their interactions, as well as the epistemological and ontological basis of the theories used by practicing physicists. The discipline draws upon insights from various areas of philosophy, including metaphysics, epistemology, and philosophy of science, while also engaging with the latest developments in theoretical and experimental physics. Contemporary work focuses on issues at the foundations of the three pillars of modern physics: * Quantum mechanics: Interpretations of quantum theory, including the nature of quantum states, the measurement problem, and the role of observers. Implications of entanglement, nonlocality, and the quantum-classical relations ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Physical Law
Scientific laws or laws of science are statements, based on repeated experiments or observations, that describe or predict a range of natural phenomena. The term ''law'' has diverse usage in many cases (approximate, accurate, broad, or narrow) across all fields of natural science (physics, chemistry, astronomy, geoscience, biology). Laws are developed from data and can be further developed through mathematics; in all cases they are directly or indirectly based on empirical evidence. It is generally understood that they implicitly reflect, though they do not explicitly assert, causal relationships fundamental to reality, and are discovered rather than invented. Scientific laws summarize the results of experiments or observations, usually within a certain range of application. In general, the accuracy of a law does not change when a new theory of the relevant phenomenon is worked out, but rather the scope of the law's application, since the mathematics or statement representing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest include planets, natural satellite, moons, stars, nebulae, galaxy, galaxies, meteoroids, asteroids, and comets. Relevant phenomena include supernova explosions, gamma ray bursts, quasars, blazars, pulsars, and cosmic microwave background radiation. More generally, astronomy studies everything that originates beyond atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere. Cosmology is a branch of astronomy that studies the universe as a whole. Astronomy is one of the oldest natural sciences. The early civilizations in recorded history made methodical observations of the night sky. These include the Egyptian astronomy, Egyptians, Babylonian astronomy, Babylonians, Greek astronomy, Greeks, Indian astronomy, Indians, Chinese astronomy, Chinese, Maya civilization, M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
