Anmeldung: Trustworthiness of Science [ENG]

This course is intended for Doctoral Researchers and PostDocs.

IMPORTANT: 
Completion of the mandatory preparatory tasks is a prerequisite for participation in the course. 
If the tasks have not been completed and uploaded, you will not have access to the web conference room!
Access to the room will only be granted shortly before the start of the course.

“Follow the science” became a pandemic slogan. But what exactly should we follow: Science as an institution? Or is it the evidence founded? And when is trust warranted? This six-hour graduate seminar uses Bernard Williams’s Truth and Truthfulness to ground scientific integrity in two virtues: accuracy (respect for evidence) and sincerity (honesty in assertion). With a 50/50 mix of short lectures and hands-on groupwork, you will connect these virtues to everyday research and to the institutions that shape it.
We examine norms and incentives (Mertonian norms, metrics), breakdowns (replication crises, questionable research practices, fraud), and practical mechanisms for trustworthiness: preregistration, registered reports, open data and code, replication, reporting standards, and alternative peer-review models. Activities include concept mapping, analysis of historical and contemporary cases, a peer-review simulation of a mock manuscript, and either a lab trust charter or uncertainty-aware messages for media, policymakers, and peers.
By the end, you can apply Williams’s framework, diagnose failures of accuracy or sincerity across the research lifecycle, propose repairs at individual, lab, and journal/funder levels, communicate uncertainty responsibly, and design concrete practices for your own work.

Inhalt und Lernziele

• Reflecting truth, truthfulness, and trustworthiness as basis of science
• Diagnose how scientific practices and institutions sustain or undermine trustworthiness
• Apply the virtues to evaluate research (design, analysis, reporting)
• Propose concrete lab- and field-level measures to strengthen scientific trustworthiness
• Communicating uncertainty responsibly to different audiences