Data Science for Research on Human Aspects of Science and Engineering

Abstract

In this chapter and in Chap. 19, we focus on the third component of the MERge model—research, and describe two data science teaching frameworks for researchers: Chap. 19 addresses researchers in social science and digital humanities; this chapter addresses science and engineering researchers and discusses how to teach data science methods to science and engineering graduate students to assist them in conducting research on human aspects of science and engineering. In most cases, these target populations, unlike the community of social scientists (discussed in Chap. 19), have the required background in computer science, mathematics, and statistics, and need to be exposed to the human aspects of science and engineering which, in many cases, are not included in scientific and engineering study programs. We start with the presentation of possible human-related science and engineering topics for investigation (Sect. 20.2). Then, we describe a workshop for science and engineering graduate students that can be facilitated in a hybrid format, combining synchronous (online or face to face) and asynchronous meetings (Sect. 20.3). We conclude with an interdisciplinary perspective of data science for research on human aspects of science and engineering (Sect. 20.4).