A STRATEGY FOR ASSESSING SCIENCE: Behavioral and Social Research on Aging by National Research Council of the National Academies

Author:National Research Council of the National Academies
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Behavioral and Social Sciences : Aging
Publisher: NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS
Published: 2007-02-28T00:00:00+00:00

Interpreting Scientific Progress

The extent to which particular scientific results constitute progress in knowledge or contribute to societal well-being is often contested. This is especially the case when scientific findings are uncertain or controversial and when they can be interpreted to support controversial policy choices. Many results in applied behavioral and social science have these characteristics. Disagreements arise over which research questions are important enough to deserve support (that is, over which issues constitute significant social problems), about whether or not a finding resolves a scientific dispute or has unambiguous policy implications, and about many other aspects of the significance of scientific outputs. The more controversial the underlying social issues, the further such disagreements are likely to penetrate into the details of scientific method. Interested parties may use their best rhetorical tools to “frame” science policy issues and may even attempt to exercise power by influencing legislative or administrative decision makers to support or curtail particular lines of research.

These aspects of the social context of science are relevant for the measurement and assessment of scientific progress and its societal impact. They underline the recognition that the meaning of assessments of scientific progress may not follow in any straightforward way from the evidence the assessments produce. Assessing science, no matter how rigorous the methods that may be used, is ultimately a matter of interpretation. The possibility of competing interpretations of evidence is ever-present when using science indicators or applying any other analytic method for measuring the progress and impact of science. In Chapter 5, we discuss a strategy for assessing science that recognizes this social context while also seeking an appropriate role for indicators and other analytic approaches.

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