Website Search
Find information on spaces, staff, and services.
Catalog Search
Books
Scientific research as a career
- Author / Creator
- Available as
- Physical
Details
Checking for availability...
- Creator
- Finlay MacRitchie
- Format
- Books
- Language
- English
- Publication
-
- Boca Raton, FL : CRC Press, [2011]
- ©2011
- Physical Details
-
- xiii, 117 pages ; 23 cm
- ISBNs
- 9781439869659, 1439869650
- OCLC
- ocn690089882
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- 1. Introduction : Motivation and requisites for a research career ; Early interest and a simple research problem ; Importance of combining study with experimentation -- 2. Scientific training and personal development : University qualifications ; Bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees ; Research Ph.D versus combined research and course work ; Imaginative and regimented thinking ; The Ph.D preliminary examination ; Research versus collecting data ; Oral and written examinations ; Limitations of statistics ; Accuracy: are the results what are intended to be measured? ; Where to after graduation? ; Main areas for employment of science graduates ; Internships as a precursor to employment ; Networking, joining associations, conference presentations -- 3. The scientific method : The scientific method, empiricism, induction ; Karl Popper: analysis of early 20th century theories ; Demarcation: a criterion to distinguish between science and nonscience ; Myths as precursors of scientific hypotheses ; Exploratory work preceding hypotheses ; Growth of scientific knowledge ; Dangers to growth: lack of motivation for inquiry, misplaced faith in precision, authoritarianism ; How scientific research can be put off track deliberately ; How scientific research can be put off track unintentionally --
- 4. Attributes required by research scientists : Citations as a criterion for research value ; Conceptual thought required to form hypotheses ; Detachment ; Perseverance ; Ethical standards: plagiarism ; Publication ; Service: peer reviewing ; Service: serving on awards committees ; Grantsmanship -- 5. The impact of managerialism : The managerial ideology ; Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) of Australia ; Reviews of CSIRO ; Effects of McKinsey review ; Freedom of expression in science ; A false premise ; Performance criteria for scientists ; The risks of corrupt practices ; Coping with effects of managerial stress -- 6. Leadership in science : Mentoring ; Supervision of research students ; Qualities needed to lead scientific research ; Servant leadership ; The inverted pyramid ; The future -- 7. Insights from notable scientists : Marie Curie (1867-1934) ; Charles Darwin (1809-1882) ; Albert Einstein (1879-1955) ; Rosalind Franklin (1920-1958) ; Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) ; Dorothy Hodgkin (1910-1994) ; Irving Langmuir (1881-1957) ; Lise Meitner (1878-1968) ; Gregor Mendel (1822-1884) ; Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) ; Nikola Tesla (1856-1943) -- 8. Future challenges for scientific research : Two areas for change in direction ; Why are humans the only species to have progressed culturally? ; Why present funding procedures for research are unsatisfactory ; Stifling of creativity in science can stunt future economic growth ; Suppression of freedom causes stagnation of knowledge ; The need for a change in the working environment for research