Recent developments in the history, philosophy, psychology, and sociology of science raise serious challenges to our traditional notions about the decisive power of experiments in the development of scientific knowledge. These developments suggest that the power of an experiment is only as...

Selected aspects of a heuristic programming study of the design behavior of a practicing mechanical engineer are described. The study documents the tremendous influence that personality and social variables exert on the technical practice of engineering design. The study bears testimony to...

For the past two years I have been studying a group of over forty eminent physical scientists. I have repeatedly interviewed (there are over 220 hours of tape-recorded interviews) and questioned them about their methodology and attitudes towards science and scientists. The purpose of my study...

Using Bayesian probability theory and Ackoff's Behayorial Theory of Communication, a mathematical model of the Hegelian Dialectical Inquirer is developed. The model strongly argues against the widely held and naive distinction between "fact" and "theory." The model strongly argues for a new way...

Every scientific study has its own unique case history. Unfortunately, most scientific papers present a greatly distorted and static image of the true history and sociology of a research project. This paper represents an attempt to report on selected aspects of the actual growth and development...

An information system consists of, at least, a PERSON of a certain PSYCHOLOGICAL TYPE who faces a PROBLEM within some ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT for which he needs EVIDENCE to arrive at a solution, where the evidence is made available through some MODE OF PRESENTATION. This defines the key variables...