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PCC++/GST Summer School 2003
Comparative Formation of Knowledge:
Theory of Science and Scientific Method
Background
GST and PCC++ span a number of disciplines and sub-disciplines
in the
areas of electrical engineering, computer science, and other related
fields. It
also touches on issues of human behavior, economics, and organization.
The
researchers and professionals active in these fields are all part of
different
scientific disciplines, traditions, and communities that form knowledge
in
different ways. Since many of the research problems, and certainly most
engineering problems in practice, span different disciplines, it is of
crucial
importance that academics as well as practitioners acquire an
understanding of
methods, traditions, problems etc. in both their own and other
disciplines.
Aim
The aim of the summer school of 2003 can be summarized as:
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demonstrating to the participants how their research discipline
differs
from other disciplines when it comes to for example (i) what is
considered to
be a scientific problem, (ii) what methods and tools are accepted, and
(iii)
what traditions and underlying assumptions that are
dominating.
-
increasing their knowledge of how the academic system works, for
example publishing your work, making an academic career
etc.
What you will learn?
The participants will gain a deeper understanding of the origins
and
traditions of their own discipline, of other disciplines represented in
GST and
PCC++ as well as of a few other related disciplines. They will
understand the
difficulties that are involved in successfully conducting large,
multi-disciplinary research projects, making them better equipped to
participate in and manage such projects. The participants will gain an
understanding of the pre-suppositions governing scientific research in
others
as well as in their own discipline. This will allow them to see where
the
limits are regarding the validity of their own and other studies. Such
an
understanding is necessary to be able to communicate between
disciplines. They
will also be better prepared to make an academic
career.
How are these aims reached?
Theory of science and formation of
knowledge will be discussed from the perspectives of the participants in
the
GST and PCC++ programs. This means that the course will take the
different
research disciplines involved as a starting point. The specific problems
that
are central within these disciplines will be discussed. One point of
departure
is a simple model of how knowledge is formed in science,
94T96R96E94. In brief this
model describes formation of scientific knowledge using three
categories: the
theory (T) being built, the part of reality (R) that the theory is
attempting
to depict, and the empirical data (E) that is collected from the studied
objects using various types of instruments, simulations, etc. The
ISO/OSI stack
can also be used as a way of discussing how the disciplines that are
part of
the GST and PCC++ focus on different but complementing
issues.
Lecturers and teachers
Course leader: Bo Karlson, Wireless@KTH
Course team: Prof. em. Albert Danielsson, Fredrik Lagergren,
Fredrik Gessler
Teachers: Per Storm, Prof. Jens Zander, Prof. Mikael Sternad,
Professors/researches
from different disciplines of GST/PCC++ and additional experts
Schedule
The summer school is composed of lectures (on theory of science
and
formation of knowledge, the traditions and origins of different research
disciplines, scientific method, and on hands-on academic skills), group
work,
and student presentations. The course requirements are: (1) active
participation
during the week, (2) all group works during the week solved and
presented in a
satisfactory way, and (3) a home assignment (solved in groups) handed in
after
the summer.
Preliminary schedule in pdf.
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