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Science studies and natural sciences: Which is primary, distribution or interdependence between variables?

Abstract

It is shown that in natural sciences, interdependences between variables are determined regardless of the distributions of variable values, whereas in science studies, distributions should be used as a starting point. This difference is due the nature of measuring instruments: in natural sciences, measurements are performed with the use of devices, while science of science uses “human devices” adapting themselves to the measured objects. Practical inferences are drawn.

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References

  1. See the first article of this series: S. D. HAITUN, Problems of quantitative analysis of scientific activities: The non-additivity of data. Part I. Statement and solution,Scientometrics, 10 (1986) 3; Part II. Corollaries,Scientimetrics, 10 (1986) 133.

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Haitun, S.D. Science studies and natural sciences: Which is primary, distribution or interdependence between variables?. Scientometrics 15, 45–58 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02021798

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02021798

Keywords

  • Measured Object
  • Natural Science
  • Science Study
  • Practical Inference
  • Human Device