Arthur Holmes and Continental Drift

1978 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 130-150 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry Frankel
Keyword(s):  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Continental Drift ◽  
Hard Core ◽  
Research Programme ◽  
Ultimate Concern ◽  
Central Elements ◽  
Research Programmes ◽  
Drift Theory ◽  
Growth And Change ◽  
Scientific Growth

Although there are numerous and significant differences between the theories of scientific growth and change proposed by Kuhn, Lakatos, and Laudan, they all hold that specific scientific theories should be viewed as constitutive of more comprehensive theories. Kuhn calls those more general theories ‘paradigms’, Lakatos labels them ‘research programmes’ and Laudan refers to them as ‘research traditions’. They all argue that scientists are much more willing to give up the specific theory within a given research programme rather than the programme itself, and that individual theories should be viewed as attempts to increase the overall explanatory power of the more general theories, since the ultimate concern of the scientist is with the success of the general rather than the specific theory. When a basic theory or research programme is confronted with severe criticism, proponents attempt to protect the hard core or central elements of their programme through the invention of auxiliary hypotheses. Good auxiliary hypotheses adequately answer the objections for which they are designed, and suggest new avenues of research. In 1928, Arthur Holmes provided proponents of continental drift theory with an auxiliary hypothesis which afforded them a badly needed account of the forces responsible for continental drift. Although Holmes' proposal was not ultimately correct, it was the first plausible alternative offered by an exponent of the continental drift research programme.

scholarly journals How Well Does Evolution Explain Endogenous Retroviruses?—A Lakatosian Assessment

Viruses ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 14
Author(s):  
Ruben N. Jorritsma
Keyword(s):  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
Hard Core ◽  
Research Programme ◽  
Early History ◽  
Endogenous Retroviruses ◽  
Long Terminal Repeats ◽  
Research Programmes ◽  
History Of ◽  
Protective Belt

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.

Duhem-Quine, Lakatos and Research Programmes in Economics

1986 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 175-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
B.J. Heijdra ◽  
A.D. Lowenberg
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Research ◽  
Hard Core ◽  
Research Programme ◽  
Economic Theories ◽  
Research Programmes ◽  
Correct Understanding ◽  
Protective Belt

The Lakatosian methodology of scientific research programmes (MSRP) is intended to circumvent the epistemological difficulties associated with various brands of falsificationist method, of which the most important is the Duhem-Quine problem. We reject the view that Lakatos’ MSRP needs to be re-interpreted before it can be used to appraise economic theories. A correct understanding of Lakatos’ distinction between the hard core and protective belt of a research programme leads to the recognition that conflicting theories can be accommodated within the same programme. This avoids much of the confusion encountered by some economists who have attempted to develop taxonomies of economic theories within a Lakatosian framework, but have made the mistake of overpopulating the discipline of economics with a plethora of spurious research programmes. Many of the latter are more usefully treated as subdisciplinary demi-cores within an overall neoclassical programme.

scholarly journals Hungry People Prefer Larger Bodies and Objects: The Importance of Testing Boundary Effects

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamsin Saxton ◽  
Kristofor McCarty ◽  
Jasmine Caizley ◽  
Dane McCarrick ◽  
Thomas Victor Pollet
Keyword(s):  
Research Study ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Research Programme ◽  
Women's Bodies ◽  
Hunger Level ◽  
Insurance Hypothesis ◽  
Cross Cultural Differences ◽  
Security Hypothesis ◽  
Female Bodies ◽  
The Impact

Several lab-based studies have indicated that when people are hungry, they judge larger women’s bodies as more attractive, compared to when they are satiated. Thesesatiety-dependent judgements are assumed to provide explanatory power when it comes to the noted cross-cultural differences in attitudes towards women’s adiposity, whereby people who live in regions that are under greater nutritional stress tend to have more favourable attitudes towards bigger bodies. However, it is premature to assume that women’s bodies are the proper or actual domain of the satiety-dependent judgement shifts found within research study testing contexts until stimuli other than female bodies have also been tested: the research programme falls into the trap of confirmation bias unless we also seek out disconfirmatory evidence, and test the boundaries of the effects of hunger. Accordingly, we collected attractiveness judgements of female and male bodies manipulated to vary in size by varying level of adiposity, and objects manipulated to vary in size, from 186 participants who also reported their current hunger level. We found that larger sizes of stimuli in general, and women’s bodies in particular, especially when judged by women, were judged as more attractive by the hungrier participants. We discuss these patterns in the context of the Insurance Hypothesis, the Environmental Security Hypothesis, and the impact of hunger on acquisition.

scholarly journals Barriers to Library and Information Science research

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 65-76
Author(s):  
K. S. Sivakumaren ◽  
S. Swaminathan ◽  
B. Jeyaprakash ◽  
G. Karthikeyan
Keyword(s):  
Tamil Nadu ◽  
Information Science ◽  
Research Programme ◽  
Poor Response ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Library And Information Science ◽  
Research Programmes ◽  
High Expenditure ◽  
Common Barriers ◽  
Structured Questionnaire

The study examines the barriers related to Library and Information Science. A structured questionnaire was designed and directly administered to the LIS Research Scholars who are currently involved in the Research in the Universities/Colleges of Tamil Nadu (India). A total of 124 questionnaires were distributed and 109 respondents have replied. The majority of common barriers faced by the respondents are ‘High Expenditure’, ‘Lack of Statistical Skills’, and ‘Inadequate of infrastructures’ and ‘Poor response in data collection’. The study is also recommended that the Universities/Colleges offered the research programmes should consider to reduce the expenditure in terms of fee structures for the research and also the schools/departments which offer the research programme should redesign the syllabus to include the skills required to carry out the research. Further, it is emphasized that the LIS professionals should encourage and support the research scholars by means of providing the required data for the research.

Swiss HLw Research Programme: Key Research Areas

1985 ◽  
Vol 50 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. McCombie
Keyword(s):  
Research Programme ◽  
Geologic Repository ◽  
Safe Disposal ◽  
The Public ◽  
Research Areas ◽  
Technical Community ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Research Programmes

The increased emphasis put upon disposal of HLW in recent years led to the growth of large numbers of research programmes in many countries. Many results of this research have flowed into projects developing and analysing geologic repository concepts; the basic feasibility of implementing safe disposal facilities is now generally accepted by the technical community (though not always by the public!)

Generating evidence on interventions to reduce inequalities in health: the Dutch case

2002 ◽  
Vol 30 (59_suppl) ◽  
pp. 20-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karien Stronks
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Research Programme ◽  
Socioeconomic Inequalities ◽  
The Political ◽  
Inequalities In Health ◽  
Socioeconomic Groups ◽  
Political Feasibility ◽  
Research Programmes ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Policy Measures

The aim of this paper is to refl ect on the type of evidence that is required to design policy measures and interventions to reduce inequalities in health. This issue will be discussed in the context of the Dutch national research programmes on inequalities in health. The fi rst type of evidence relates to the background of socioeconomic inequalities in health. From a very simple conceptual scheme, four policy options can be derived: (1) reducing inequalities in socioeconomic goods; (2) changing the distribution of specifi c risk factors across socioeconomic groups; (3) diminishing the effect of health on socioeconomic status; (4) offering extra healthcare for people in lower socioeconomic groups. Whereas the evidence on the background of socioeconomic inequalities in health has increased enormously, there is clearly a lack of evidence on the effectiveness of interventions to tackle inequalities in health, which is the second type of evidence that is required. The Dutch fi ve-year programme, including 12 (quasi) experimental studies on specifi c interventions in different policy fi elds, showed that this second type of evidence is more difficult to collect, partly because of the methodological complexity of these studies. The third type of evidence relates to the political feasibility of policy measures. It is not enough to know that a specifi c determinant of socioeconomic inequalities in health might be effectively addressed by a specifi c intervention. The political will to implement that intervention is obviously a necessary prerequisite for actually reducing inequalities in health. Within the Dutch research programme, the political feasibility of policy measures was explored during a number of conferences, for several policy fi elds. The lack of evidence on, in particular, the effectiveness of interventions to reduce inequalities in health is clearly an obstacle to tackling inequalities in health. On the other hand, it should be ensured that the lack of evidence is not used as an excuse for not taking policy measures at all.

Increasing the economic benefits from agricultural research: the case of enhancing the diffusion of a pasture weed technology

2004 ◽  
Vol 44 (8) ◽  
pp. 779 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. T. Vere ◽  
R. E. Jones ◽  
P. M. Dowling
Keyword(s):  
Diffusion Process ◽  
Technology Development ◽  
Agricultural Research ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Research Programme ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Research Programmes ◽  
Diffusion Enhancement ◽  
Australian Wool ◽  
Temperate Pastures

The process of enhancing the diffusion of a new technology attempts to shorten the time between the completion and adoption of an agricultural research programme, as well as to increase the overall level of adoption. The economic benefits of introducing a new technology are influenced by the technology development lag, the adoption lag and the maximum, or ceiling, level of adoption. Technology diffusion embodies these issues and concerns the uptake of a new technology across a population of potential adopters. Diffusion enhancement is now considered to be a desirable component of pasture research programmes in Australia. This paper evaluates the economic benefits of enhancing the diffusion process for new technology in the management of Vulpia, which is a prominent annual grass weed of Australian temperate pastures. Differences in economic benefits were calculated for a range of scenarios, by varying the values of the main elements of the diffusion process relative to those of a base scenario which represented the most optimistic adoption expectations for the technology. The discounted total benefits to the Australian wool industry, calculated for a 15-year period from reducing Vulpia in temperate pastures, were between A$31.9 million and A$287.3 million, according to differences in the pasture's Vulpia content. While the 2 main time components of the diffusion process both had strong effects on the potential benefits, the technology lag had a much larger influence than the adoption lag. This result emphasises the importance of agricultural research programmes that are able to quickly diffuse such technologies to the potential adopters.

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