Page 22 - Becoming Metric Wise

CHAPTER 2

Scientific Research

and Communication

It makes no sense to do research and not to communicate the results.
Hence the publication of research results is an important duty for any
researcher. Yet, it does not suffice to publish research: Whatever is
published should be read as widely as possible. Research results are com-
municated and disseminated in various ways e.g., published in journals, in
edited books, in monographs, presented at conferences, and circulated via
blogs on the Internet. Research of great public importance may even be
disseminated through television documentaries. In the context of scien-
tific communication, there are thus three kinds of variables at play,
namely documents, researchers, and cognitions, i.e., topics and ideas
(Guns, 2013; Kochen, 1974).

2.1 KNOWLEDGE AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
2.1.1 Tacit Versus Explicit Knowledge
According to Polanyi (1966) tacit knowledge is nonverbalized, intuitive,
and unarticulated knowledge. It is knowledge that resides in a human
brain and that cannot easily be codified or captured. Nevertheless it is
one of the aims of the field of artificial intelligence, and in particular of
expert systems, to include exactly this kind of knowledge. Explicit
knowledge is that kind of knowledge that can be articulated in a formal
language and transmitted among individuals. It is the kind of knowledge
found in all types of scientific publications.

2.1.2 Scientific Research

This Subsection is largely based on information from Wikipedia: http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science. Persons who spend their professional
time doing science are called scientists or researchers. Note that here and
further on in this work the word “science” refers not only to the natural
and biomedical sciences, but also to applied science (engineering), the
social sciences, and the humanities. Outsiders may ask: Why do research,

Becoming Metric-Wise © 2018 Elsevier Ltd.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-102474-4.00002-9 All rights reserved. 11