The role of Geography in climate education: science and active citizenship
Section 1
1. Lesson: Concept, characteristics
and aim of the scientific
research. Ethics and integrity in
scientific research
Common cross-curricular activities
Activity 2 >Section 1
3. Index
1. Research
2. Research in the University
3. What is science? Theorical approach
4. Ethics and integrity in scientific
research
4. OVERVIEW
Research
Research in the University
What is science? Teorical approach
Classification of the sciences
Areas of knowledge
Ethics and integrity in scientific research
Ethics in research and publication
6. RESEARCH
• Etymology: The word investigate comes from the Latin word investigare
which is derived from vestigium, meaning ”in the footprints of”, meaning "to
look for clues".
• Research (Spanish Royal Academy)
3. intr. To carry out intellectual and experimental activities in a systematic
manner with the objective of increasing knowledge on a certain topic.
• Characteristics of Research: reflexive, systematic and methodical
• Purpose of Research: generation of innovative knowledge, products,
processes, methods and novel systems, as well as the transfer of both
technological and humanistic knowledge.
8. • ORGANIC LAW OF UNIVERSITIES (Organic Law 6/2001)
• Article 39. Research and transfer of knowledge. Functions of the university.
• 1. Scientific research is an essential foundation of teaching and a primordial tool for social
development through the transfer of its results to society. As such, it constitutes an essential
function of the university, derived from its key role in the generation of knowledge and its
capacity to stimulate and generate critical thought, key to all scientific processes.
• 2. Freedom of research is recognised and guaranteed in the university environment.
• 3. One of the essential objectives of the university is the development of scientific,
technical and artistic research and the transfer of knowledge to society, as well as the
training of researchers, and will focus on both basic research and applied research.
RESEARCH IN THE UNIVERSITY
9. RESEARCH IN THE UNIVERSITY
• THE DOCTORATE (Royal Decree 99/2011)
It must play a fundamental role as an intersection between the European Higher
Education Area (EHEA) and the European Research Area (ERA), both fundamental pillars of
society based on knowledge. The research must have a clear importance as an integral
part of the university higher education and the mobility must be valued in both the
doctoral and post-doctoral phase as an essential part of the education of young researchers.
The process of change of the productive model towards a sustainable economy
needs doctors as principal actors in society for the generation, transfer and adaptation of
the R&D&I. The doctors must play an essential role in all institutions involved in the
innovation and research, in order to lead the transfer of the knowledge to the well-being of
society.
10. 3. What is
science?
Teorical
aproach
• Classification of the Sciences
• Areas of knowledge
• International nomenclature by the
UNESCO for the fields of Science
and Technology
11. WHAT IS SCIENCE? THEORETICAL
APPROACH
“Science knows no country, because knowledge belongs to humanity, and is the torch
which illuminates the world. Science is the highest personification of the nation”
Louis Pasteur (Dôle, France 1822 - Marnes-la-Coquette, France 1895; chemist and bacteriologist)
From the lat. scientia.
1. f. Collection of knowledge obtained through observation and reasoning,
systematically structured and of which general laws and principles are
deduced which can be predicted and verified through experiments.
In science, the explanations must be made in such a way that they can be
subject to empirical tests, a process which must include the possibility of
rebuttal.
The dividing line between non-scientific thinking and scientific thinking is that the
first does not require proof, while for the second evidence is essentialt. When a
scientific theory is false, by essence it cannot be proven, only rebutted.
12. WHAT IS SCIENCE? THEORETICAL
APPROACH
• It therefore follows that knowledge is not definitive, to the extent that it can
change when new, better established ideas prove this. Two conclusions: science
is fallible (Bunge, 1996) and progressive: a scientific theory is often replaced by
another that is more complete, more accurate and more comprehensive.
• Difference between the truth and the consideration of value
"The history of science shows that theories are perishable. With every new truth that is
revealed we get a better understanding of Nature and our conceptions and views are
modified.”
Nikola Tesla (Smiljan, Austrian Empire, present day Croatia, 1856-New York,1943; inventer, mechanical, electrical
and physical engineer)
13. CLASSIFICATION OF THE SCIENCES
• "Science" should be used as a single term to cover all disciplines.
• In practice, we find several classifications. The most universal distinguishes between:
Formal sciences: these are based on the deductive method and their purpose is to
prove theorems and postulates. E.g.: Logic and mathematics.
Factual sciences: these are based on the perception and observation of the exterior
world, on human experience. Their reasoning is, basically, inductive, ranging from particular
to general. They have the objective of verification, which leads to the generation of
temporary knowledge, which is accepted as truth until new reasoning or techniques permit
the formulation of more coherent or extended explanations for a phenomenon, or until a
particular case is recognised which does not comply with the rule. E.g.: Physics, chemistry,
biology, ecology, etc.
Social or human sciences: in these sciences, the enunciation of laws is limited, given
that man's actions are conditioned by will, a situation that does not occur, or is less
frequent, in other sciences. The social sciences are also called human sciences, studying the
human or social facts that have value, sense and purpose. Study methods: Abstraction,
deduction, dialectic and others. E.g.: Sociology, economy, education, psychology, etc.
14. CLASSIFICATION OF THE SCIENCES
Science
Formal
Logic Mathematics
Factual
Natural
Physics
Chemistry
Biology
…
Cultural
Sociology
Economy
Education
Psychology
…
Classification according to Mario Bunge
16. INTERNATIONAL NOMENCLATURE BY DE UNESCO
FOR THE FIELDS OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Fields:
These refer to more general sections. They are coded with two digits and
cover various disciplines.
Disciplines:
These imply a general description of speciality groups in Science and
Technology. They are sections coded with four digits. Despite being
different from each other, the disciplines with crossed references, or
within the same field, are considered to have common characteristics.
Sub-disciplines:
These are the most specific entries in the nomenclature and represent
the activities that are carried out within a discipline. They are coded with
six digits. At the same time, they must correspond to the individual
specialities in Science and Technology.
17. http://www.idi.mineco.gob.es/portal/site/MICINN/menuitem.8ce192e94ba842bea3bc811001432ea0/?vgn
extoid=363ac9487fb02210VgnVCM1000001d04140aRCRD&vgnextchannel=28fb282978ea0210VgnVC
M1000001034e20aRCRD
11 Logic
12 Mathematics
21 Astronomy and astrophysics
22 Physics
23 Chemistry
24 Life Sciences
25 Earth and Space Sciences
31 Agricultural Science
32 Medical Science
33 Technological Science
51 Anthropology
52 Demography
53 Economical Science
54 Geography
55 History
56 Legal Science and Law
57 Linguistics
58 Pedagogy
59 Political Science
61 Psychology
62 Art and Humanity Sciences
63 Sociology
71 Ethics
72 Philosophy
11 LOGIC
1101 Applications of logic
1102 Deductive logic
1103 General logic
1104 Inductive logic
1105 Methodology
1199 Other specialities relative to logic
(specify)
1102 DEDUCTIVE LOGIC
110201 ANALOGY
110202 BOOLE ALGEBRA
110203 FORMAL LOGIC
110204 FORMALISED LANGUAGES
110205 FORMAL SYSTEMS
110206 FUNDAMENTALS OF
MATHEMATICS
110207 GENERALISATION
110208 MATHEMATICAL LOGIC
110209 MODAL LOGIC
110210 THEORY OF MODELS
110211 THEORY OF TESTS
110212 PROPOSITIONAL CALCULATION
110213 RECURSIVE FUNCTIONS
110214 SYMBOLIC LOGIC
110215 THEORY OF FORMAL
LANGUAGES
110299 OTHERS (SPECIFY)
INTERNATIONAL NOMENCLATURE BY DE UNESCO
FOR THE FIELDS OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
18. 4. Ethics and
integrity in
scientific
research
• Ethics in biomedical research.
• Research Ethics Committee
• Good practices in scientific research
• Poor scientific conduct
• Ethics in publication
19. ETHICS IN BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH
After the Second World War, one of the Nuremberg courts led the trial of Doctors, which
processed various Nazi medical professionals for carrying out experiments on prisoners
in the concentration camps.
The Nuremberg court revealed the importance of scientists acting within the limits of
ethics. Its decision constituted the basis for modern applied ethics.
The court thus concluded the numbering of a ten point code of ethics for
experimentation on humans known as the Code of Nuremberg.
Some years later, the World Medical Association (WMA), in a meeting held in Helsinki in
1964, enacted the Helsinki Declaration as a proposal for ethical principles for medical
research on human beings, including the spirit of the Nuremberg Code in order to
perfect it from a procedural and substantive point of view.
Through its successive versions, the Declaration became a cornerstone of international
reference for ethics in biomedical research.
20. RESEARCH ETHICS COMMITTEE
Law 14/2011, dated June 1st, on Science, Technology and Innovation
Article 10. Spanish Research Ethics Committee
1. The Spanish Research Ethics Committee was created, adhered to the Council
for Scientific, Technological and Innovation Policy, as a collegiate body,
independent with an advisory nature, on topics related to professional ethics in
scientific and technical research.
2. The functions of the Spanish Research Ethics Committee are: a) To issue
reports, proposals and recommendations on topics related to professional ethics
in scientific and technical research. b) To establish the general principles for the
elaboration of codes of good practice in scientific and technical research,
including the resolution of conflicts of interest between public and private
activities. These codes will be developed by the Research Ethics Committee and
by the Spanish Bioethics Committee. c) To represent Spain in supranational and
international forums and organisations related to research ethics, except for
bioethics, where the representation of Spain will correspond to the Spanish
Bioethics Committee. d) To promote the creation of ethics committees linked to
the enforcement agents of the Spanish System of Science, Technology and
Innovation. e) To create an annual report on activities. f) Any others requested by
the Council of Scientific, Technological and Innovation Policy or the development
regulations of this law.
21. Research Ethics Committee at the University of Alicante
The projects that imply research with human beings, use of personal
data, biological samples of human origin, experimentation with
animals, biological agents or that use genetically modified
organisms must have express authorisation issued by the Ethics
Committee in the centre where the research is to be carried out.
RESEARCH ETHICS COMMITTEE
22. Planning and development of research projects.
Problems to be addressed, use of resources, design of
experiments and observations, protocols.
Management and use of data and materials resulting from research.
Data collection and preservation. Property of data.
Obtaining and processing of data about people: Regulations on
personal data protection.
Publication
Honest, transparent and accurate
Conflicts of interest.
Personal, financial, professional, political or legal interest.
Industrial and intellectual property.
Regulated in collaboration agreements.
Health and environmental safety.
Authorship of scientific works, publications and patents
GOOD PRACTICES IN SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
25. POOR SCIENTIFIC CONDUCT
Fabrication, falsification or plagiarism when proposing, performing or
reviewing research, or when communicating the results of research.
(a) Fabrication: Inventing data or results and recording or presenting them.
(b) Falsification: Manipulating research materials, equipment or processes.
Changing or omitting data or results.
(c) Plagiarism: Appropriation of the ideas, processes, results or words of
another person.
(d) Poor conduct in the research does not include honest errors or
differences of opinion.
26. ETHICS IN PUBLICATION
Authorship
Author: The person that made considerable intellectual contributions
to a published study.
Responsibilities of the authors:
Only report real data, not invented or altered.
Originality.
Avoid plagiarism.
Declare any conflict of interest.
Present the work to be considered to one journal at a time.
27. ETHICS PUBLICATION
Plagiarism
Literal copy
This is only acceptable if the source is indicated and the copied text is between quote marks.
Substantial copy
This can include research materials, processes, tables or equipment.
"Substantial" can be defined as either the quantity or quality of what has been copied. If a piece
includes the essence of another person's work, it should be stated, quoting the original source.
Paraphrasing
Reproducing another person's ideas but without copying them word for word, without
permission and indicating the original source.
Paraphrasing is only acceptable if the source is correctly indicated and the intended meaning of
the source is not changed.
Self-Plagiarism
Reproducing parts of the work from an article and sending it again for republication as a
completely new piece.
28. ETHICS PUBLICATION
Tools for detecting plagiarism.
Free programs
• DOCODE: permits analysis of two documents per day against others that exist
online.
• Copyscape: searches for online copies of a website from a URL.
• Plagium: searches for identical or similar copies of an introduced text.
• PlagScan: files can be uploaded or text can be entered directly. Returns results in
order of preference.
• The Plagiarism Checker: shows the websites where the introduced text can be
found.
• Dupli Checker: compares the text introduced with documents on the internet.
• Plagiarisma: works on Windows, Android and BlackBerry.
• ArticleChecker: compares text and websites on the Google and Yahoo search
engines.
• TinEye: search engines for reverse images.
• Viper: software that permits comparison of documents with others online and with
own documents.
• Antiplagiarist: software that permits verification of fragments of copied text from
documents.
30. ETHICS IN PUBLICATION
Poor conduct in Research. Possible causes
Professional pressure:
Pressure to publish
Pressure to publish, to be first and to have an impact is a factor that can lead
to errors, pressured generalisations or even fraud.
‘Publish or Perish’
Pressure to find funding
The publication bias by journal editors: Search for interesting and
propositional articles.
There can be a preference for articles that show a certain interesting or
important correlation over those that do not. Both types of articles, however,
are important for science.
31. Van Noorden, R. (2011). The trouble with retractions. Nature, 478(7367), 26.
ETHICS IN PUBLICATION
32. Rethinking retractions
Brainard, Jeffrey. Science, Volume 362, Issue 6413, pp. 390-393 (2018)
“ Much of the rise appears to
reflect improved
oversight at a growing number
of journals”
ETHICS IN PUBLICATION
34. Wager, E., & Williams, P. (2011). Why and how do journals
retract articles? An analysis of Medline retractions 1988–
2008. J Med Ethics. 37(9):567-70
ETHICS PUBLICATION
36. Declaración de Helsinki de la AMM
https://www.wma.net/es/policies-post/declaracion-de-helsinki-de-la-amm-principios-eticos-para-
las-investigaciones-medicas-en-seres-humanos/
David R. Koepsell, Manuel H Ruiz de Chávez. Ética de la Investigación, Integridad Científica
2015. Comisión Nacional de Bioética/Secretaría de Salud. Mexico.
http://www.cooperacionib.org/libro-etica-de-la-Investigacion-gratuito.pdf
Declaración nacional sobre integridad científica:
http://www.crue.org/Documentos%20compartidos/Informes%20y%20Posicionamientos/Declaraci
%C3%B3n%20Nacional%20Integridad%20Cient%C3%ADfica_.pdf
Red de comités de ética de universidades y organismos públicos de investigación
http://www.ub.edu/rceue/index.htm
Comité de ética de la investigación de la Universidad de Alicante
https://sstti.ua.es/es/comite-etica/presentacion.html
International Center for Academic Integrity:
http://www.academicintegrity.org/icai/home.php
The office of research integrity:
https://ori.hhs.gov/
“What Constitutes Plagiarism?” Harvard Guide to Using Sources
https://usingsources.fas.harvard.edu/what-constitutes-plagiarism
