(For a rebuttal, see Zuckerman (1988, p.517). Two other points of controversy relate directly to our own analysis below. Note that the priority given to these standards is what distinguishes them normatively, since both criteria are widely used. Commitment expressed as a combination of personal interest and public trust undergirds the careers of many scientists. Mertonian norms are the four norms of good scientific research first introduced by the American sociologist, Robert K. Merton. Institutional norms, however, have the weight of institutional support behind them -- support in the form of affirmation by elites and leaders, deliberate and careful inculcation through training and socialization, noble-sounding references as justification for action, and high levels of subscription among working scientists (as shown above). Merton referred to the four norms as institutional imperatives (1942, p.118), and claimed that they are legitimatized in terms of institutional values (1942, p.116). Mertons claims for these norms are expressed in his original work: The ethos of science is that affectively toned complex of values and norms which is held to be binding on the man of science. Quantity counternorm: Scientists assess each others work primarily on the basis of numbers of publications and grants. We also designed the focus groups with no more than one person from a given academic department, as the discussions were intended to center on issues of departmental context. Since then, research has shown that various practice-based problems still occur, such as research misconduct, falsification, fabrication, plagiarism and questionable research practices. If youre not doing that, no matter how good the things are that you are doing, there will still be a time when someone will come into your office and tell you youre not doing your job.. It is important to note that many of the addresses in the NIH records from which our samples were drawn were associated with institutional grants offices instead of departmental or individual offices. Universalism (pronounced yu-ni-VER-sul-iz-um) is a doctrine that teaches all people will be saved. Through the system of governance, scientists debate, negotiate and come to decisions about issues that drive scientific inquiry, methods to be used, distribution of resources, and attention to scientific initiatives. Webby Merton were universalism, communism, disinterestedness, and orga-nized skepticism. The first question asked discussants, If you were to talk to newcomers (i.e., new graduate students and new faculty) in your field about what they have to do to keep out of trouble in their work, what would you tell them? The other prompting questions concerned rules and standards in science, success in science and failure in science. Bethesda, MD 20894, Web Policies Our analyses do not provide any clear reasons for these differences, but we can speculate on differences inherent in the two groups. the contents by NLM or the National Institutes of Health. The EnTIRE and VIRT2UE projects have received funding from the European Unions Horizon 2020 research programme under grant agreements N 741782 and N 787580. As Ziman (2000) has noted, newcomers to research soon discover that they are not just learning technical skills. Neither a normative system nor an individuals normative orientation is fully knowable, since many of a social systems norms remain latent until they are challenged or violated. Controversies about the Mertonian norms have raised and clarified certain points relevant to the interpretation of the norms. Robert Merton (1942) sought to give shape (literally, structure) to the normative system of science overall by specifying norms that fairly and uniquely characterize the system. The consensus is that they do not -- nor could any finite list of normative principles represent the complex normative system. Narrowness counternorm: Scientists put more of their time and effort into their research than into any other aspect of their work. The assumption underlying this approach is that norms are revealed in the surprise that people experience at such points of discontinuity. [3], The Embassy Editorial team, Iris Lechner contributed to this theme. WebMerton believes that this platform, or scientific conscience, which a man of science internalizes, is made up of four norms that should govern action. The research we report here focuses on the latter type of norms. We therefore recommend that these two pairs be included in conceptual or empirical examinations of normative orientation. Mertonian Norms Of Science. In 1942, Robert K. Merton described four aspects of science that later came to be called Mertonian norms: "four sets of institutional imperatives taken to comprise the When youre in one of those, it makes up for all of the six years where you just plodded along, and you got a bad paper review back, and you redid it and you added six more tables, and you sent it back out. We administered an anonymous, mailed questionnaire in the fall of 2002. It is central in explaining how internal changes can occur in a system. Before He only went home every five or six days. The participants appeared to welcome the opportunity to talk about the social, as opposed to technical, aspects of their work. They mentioned increases in industry funding of academic research as leading inappropriately to secrecy and self-interestedness, which are counternorms to communality and disinterestedness respectively. Figure 1 shows the percentages of respondents who subscribed to each norm or counternorm, by career status (mid- versus early-career). The discussions with scientists took place in focus groups, and the investigations of scientists subscription to the original and derived principles were based on a national survey, as described below. Scientists are still aiming for improvement, and Mertonian norms are still very much relevant. Administration counternorm: Scientists rely on administrators to direct the scientific enterprise through management decisions. First, it refers to scientists service to society through the contributions that their research and teaching make to the public good. Slaughter and Rhoades (2004) note that critical and social constructionist strands in the literature on norms and values in science have raised challenges to Mertons formulation of the norms. Such strong statements led us to consider the possibility that quantity is emerging as a counternorm to quality as an evaluative criterion. Both phases of the study were approved by the relevant institutional review boards. And I believe that that enculturation process is something that goes rather thoroughly unexamined. In general, subscription to the counternorms was much lower than for the norms, as one would expect. These responsibilities included research, teaching, service (to the profession, the institution and the public), administration, graduate student advising, and so on -- all quite appropriately demanding attention and time. Anderson MS. And they must be successful at both of these. One said, In the past, Ive always had the notion that people who go into science are somewhat altruistic. The response rates for the mid- and early-career samples, adjusted for undeliverable surveys, were 52% and 43%, respectively. As a member of the broad scientific community, she is also subject to general expectations about how she should behave in her role as a scientist, expectations that encompass her motivations, relations with other scientists, standards for and evaluation of her work, and her autonomy. The most basic measurement issue related to the norms is how to elicit observable expressions of the norms and how to recognize them when they arise. Zuckerman (1988) has noted that these moral norms all relate to scientists attitudes and behaviors in relation to each other and their research. The norms were assigned the Two directions are helpful here. These discussions led us to construct the following pair of items for the national survey: Breadth norm: Scientists fulfill a broad range of responsibilities in the areas of teaching, research and service. Secrecy 3. Robert Merton (1942)sought to give shape (literally, structure) to the normative system of science overall by specifying norms that fairly and uniquely WebRobert K. Merton The Normative Structure of Science (1942) Note This essay was originally published as Science and Technology in a Democratic Order (1942). This principle is based on the fact that scientific findings are always a product of collaborative efforts and constitute a common heritage in which the equity of the individual producer is severely limited (1942, p.121). Norm #1 Universalism Value: scientific claims need to stand independent of the people who make them Underlying beliefs: Scientific laws are true or false, so it shouldnt matter who is stating them Anyone is able, whether by accident or intent, to uncover scientific laws Finally, institutional norms are the norms we have considered in this paper. sharing sensitive information, make sure youre on a federal WebStudy with Quizlet and memorize flashcards containing terms like Merton's view on "communism" as stated in 1942, illustrates., Describe Universalism and Organized Skepticism and how one balances the other., Why did Merton believe in the norms of science? 4As our respondents are all NIH-supported scientists, those in the physics/mathematics/engineering group may not be representative of their fields. Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics. In constructing the survey instrument, we included the four Mertonian norms, their counternorms, and the eight proposed norm-counternorm pairs. degree were somewhat more likely than those without the M.D. Themes Mertonian norms What is this about? Just the way were taught to think about service, it could be argued that were all public servants, even as we do our research. Two discussions were held at each of three research universities: one with postdoctoral fellows and untenured assistant professors, and the other with associate professors. In: Gieryn TF, editor. Its pretty spelled out. It is important to note that the four moral norms, like the technical norms, are presented not as desired behaviors, but as principles with which various behaviors may be aligned or not. Science and social structure: A Festscrift for Robert Merton, Series 2. Apprentice to genius: The making of a scientific dynasty. Cookies help us deliver our services. In other words, the concept of what we mean by success: we dont sit around a table and talk about, Well, what does success in science really involve? We all understand it to be full professor, endowed chairs, NSF grants and this construct of achievement without, you know -- we just feel like thats the game, and so we have to play. Norms and Counter-Norms in a Select Group of the Apollo Moon Scientists: A Case Study of the Ambivalence of Scientists. American Sociological Review 1974. They dont care that much. The discussants expressed disdain for those who simply put in their time and work according to the terms of their employment. The culture of publish or perish and the increased dependence on grants for success can sometimes obfuscate the value of scientific research. For nationalistic bias is opprobrious only if judged in terms of the standard Ian Mitroffs (1974) study of the Apollo moon scientists provided empirical evidence of the influence of counternorms in science. Merton RK. Gibbs (1981) raises a five-point challenge to norms in general, and concludes that the notion of norms be abandoned and replaced by a focus on the normative properties (p.18) of behaviors. So the fact that the money is a little bit less I think keeps -- I hate to say this -- that it keeps more ethical-minded people. The norms are expressed in the form of prescriptions, proscription and permissions. Mitroff (1974) has argued that the dominance of one set or the other is situationally dependent. None of these approaches has been used specifically and deliberately to investigate the normative structure of science. This paper re-examines the relevance of three academic norms to contemporary academic life communism, universalism and disinterestedness based They have been referenced quite apart from any of Mertons personal characteristics and perspectives (to the point of being dissociated from their original roles as elements of Mertons arguments about democratic societies support for science). Mitroff, Ian I. One scientist talked about the different advice he had received from two mentors: One of my mentors -- who is extremely productive -- his comment was, Early in your career, you need to publish a lot. Her work is subject to rules, regulations, policies and laws, some general and some specific to her area of inquiry. Likewise, if the norms are to be used in studies of other variables related to the scientific community and its work, some means must be found to represent the norms in an abbreviated way. The formulation is sometimes known by the acronym CUDOS, which stands for the four norms: communism, universalism, disinterestedness, and organized skepticism. There are no clear patterns evident in the cross-disciplinary comparisons of the original norms and counternorms, except that the physics/mathematics/engineering group is at an extreme in each case: higher on the norm of communality and lower on the counternorms of particularism and self-interestedness among the early-career respondents, and higher on individualism in the mid-career group. The main argument for universalism is that a good and loving God would not condemn people to eternal WebBoth sectarian and universalist or syncretistic tendencies are present in the history of Christianity. We collected data through two means: focus group discussions and a national survey. Mulkay MJ. I think they really do genuinely have that. Merton identified secrecy as the antithesis of communality. The early-career respondents were more likely to subscribe to the norm of organized skepticism, but less likely to subscribe to the counternorms of particularism or self-interestedness, than the mid-career scientists. Mail and internet surveys: The tailored design method. Overall, we conclude that subscription to the proposed norm/counternorm pairs of governance/administration and quality/quantity is at least as consistent across disciplines as subscription to the original Mertonian pairs. We selected individuals randomly from departmental lists from public websites and sent them personal email invitations. Merton posited a set of norms that govern good science: (1) Communalism (common ownership of scientific knowledge), (2) Universalism (all scientists can contribute to the advance of knowledge), (3) Disinterestedness (scientists should work for the good of the scientific enterprise as opposed to personal gain), and (4) Organized Skepticism Our focus-group discussions revealed a potential norm/counternorm pair related to reasons why people go into science or why they do the work that they have chosen. Administrative decision-making is the province of managers who do not have the training or qualifications to be considered scientific peers of those whose work falls under their purview. In reality, however, the research climate falls short of this ideal. Mulkay (1976) has argued that neither the Mertonian norms, nor Mitroffs counternorms, nor both together represent the normative structure of science. Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook. Raymond De Vries work was also supported by grant #K01-AT000054-01 (NIH, National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine). Mertons claims for these norms are expressed in his original work: The ethos of science is that affectively toned complex of values and norms which is held to be binding on the man of science. Another approach, the one used for the present analysis, is to conduct discussions with scientists using the format of focus groups to elicit both individual and group assertions and reactions concerning scientific norms. First, Durkheim (1995/1912) long ago posited that the significance of a norm is indicated by the extent of moral outrage or indignation than ensue when the norm is violated. Mitroff I. Norms and counter-norms in a select group of the Apollo moon scientists: A case study of the ambivalence of scientists. and transmitted securely. We recruited participants from departments in the biomedical, clinical, biological and behavioral sciences. WebThis paper re-examines the relevance of three academic norms to contemporary academic life communism, universalism and disinterestedness based on the work of Robert Secrecy counternorm: Scientists protect their newest findings to ensure priority in publishing, patenting, or applications. Louis KS, Anderson MS, Rosenberg L. Academic misconduct and values: The departments influence. We were more interested, however, in themes recurring in the discussions that suggested norms beyond the Mertonian norms. In the presentation below, some of the discussion material referenced or quoted has appeared in earlier publications that addressed different aspects of the findings (Anderson, Ronning, De Vries and Martinson, 2007; De Vries, Anderson, and Martinson, 2006). This task requires an expansive effort, in both geographical and disciplinary terms, if the assessment is to be anything but local. It is possible to salvage Mertons delineation of the norms of science, but only as a prescription of how scientists should behave ideally (1997, p.57). I think sometimes that you need to know what is going on and what you can contribute to it. The percentages of mid- and early-career scientists who subscribed to breadth as a norm (68 and 72 percent, respectively) were close to but below those for the Mertonian norms. All of these conditions are invoked by a persons self-identification with science as a social system. Research designs based on these recommendations might employ ethnographic or anthropologic observation of scientists and their work (Latour and Woolgar, 1986), repeated and extensive interviews, or meta-analyses of biographical or other in-depth reports of scientists or particular initiatives (Kanigel, 1986; Watson, 1997). Scientists see such administrators as having opposed interests; as one discussant put it, I dont think the office in [this university] really has the scientists best interests at heart. We suggest that a second promising approach to revealing norms is to examine points of discontinuity or joints where one encounters new or somewhat different formulations of normative principles. We measured subscription to each norm or counternorm by the percentage of scientists who indicated that they felt to a great extent that it should represent the behavior of scientists. Proper care of research equipment might be this kind of simple norm. Several talked about competition and time-pressures that make people settle for lower-quality publications in order to keep their productivity high. Please address correspondence to the first author at: Professor of Higher Education, University of Minnesota; Professor of Higher Education, University of Minnesota. In particular, evidence-based investigations into the extent to which scientists subscribe to the normative indicators would inform discussions of the degree to which the norms elicit consensus among scientists and open the door to analyses of subscriptions relationship to, for example, misconduct, competition, good citizenship within organizations, workplace sabotage, socialization, service and alienation. Violating the norms should lead to sanctions or exclusions from the community. This guy, you talk about work! And it doesnt mean you have to be on a university senate to participate in governance. [2] Some have suggested employing originality and replication as additional norms. The other is discipline, which is based on the disciplinary field in which the respondent earned his or her highest degree. Other names for this doctrine are universal restoration, universal reconciliation, universal restitution, and universal salvation. The four norm-counternorm pairs that we identified in the focus-group discussions may or may not represent an extension of the Mertonian norms. As Robert Merton discusses in The Sociology of Science, the Mertonian norms of science are communalism, universalism, Research can sometimes be appraised and published on the basis of the authority and status of its authors. Simple norms attract simple compliance, because there is little to support any contrary behavior, beyond individual pathology. degree to be in the last-responder category. Universalism norm: Scientists evaluate research only on its merit, i.e., according to accepted standards of the field. Decisions by those in the latter group fell under the rubric of administrative decision-making. This view is at the heart of the norm of universalism, one of the four norms of science described by sociologist Robert K. Merton in 1942*. They are recognized as norms, but they invite only cursory attention because they are almost never violated. The Mertonian norms are communality, universalism, disinterestedness, and organized skepticism. The principle of universalism specifies that scientific work and findings should be evaluated on the basis of preestablished impersonal criteria: consonance with observation and with previously confirmed knowledge (1942, p.118, emphasis in original), and not on the personal or social attributes of the scientists involved. Braxton JM. This research was supported by the Research on Research Integrity Program, an ORI/NIH collaboration, grant #R01-NR08090. The scientific ethos: A deviant viewpoint. Between 18 and 23 percent of our respondents subscribed to the original counternorms, except for self-interestedness, to which 33 and 25 percent of the mid- and early-career respondents, respectively, subscribed. They shook their heads over well-known self-promoters who market their own ideas and findings or are unwilling to open their work to public scrutiny and challenge, contrary to the norm of organized skepticism. The discussions simply indicated the normative valence of these features of academic work. If we dont make [a rule], we accept it. They are entering a self-perpetuating tribe, where their behaviour is governed by many unspoken rules. He would sleep three or four hours on a couch and he would get up and start working again. The questionnaire that we sent to our nationwide samples of early- and mid-career scientists in the U.S. included both the original Mertonian norms and counternorms as well as the proposed norm-counternorm pairs derived from the focus-group discussions. Two of the institutions are public, and the other is private. Others mentioned the carelessness of scientists who view science as just a job, as in: Its not their science. References to science as a calling tended to focus on commitment and willingness to accept personal sacrifice on the basis of personal enjoyment in the work; however, the scientists did not reference public service as a basis for such commitment. A normative system is the set of all norms associated with a particular social system, together with the members collective subscription to the norms and weighting of the norms importance and applicability. The findings from the focus groups could not, of course, reveal whether or not scientists subscribe to the proposed norms and counternorms in ways that parallel their subscription to the Mertonian norms and counternorms. This comparison was included in the study design so that newcomers reactions to the scientific ethos, which we assume to be particularly revealing of that ethos, could be juxtaposed to more established scientists perspectives. The formulation is sometimes known by the acronym CUDOS, which stands for the four norms: communism, universalism, disinterestedness, and organized Anderson MS, Louis KS. The scientists in our focus groups considered at length the various entities that make and enforce rules and policies related to research. Some remarked that their department chairs or tenure-review committees emphasized teaching as much -- or nearly as much -- as research: We have teaching and research requirements. De Vries R, Anderson MS, Martinson BC. The early-career group is composed largely of postdoctoral fellows, while most of the mid-career respondents have attained faculty or other relatively secure positions in science. Through extensive discussion of the transcripts, these authors came to agreement on a set of four potential norm/counternorm pairs, as well as the wording of items to be included in the national survey to represent these norm/counternorm pairs. If the normative system of science is largely latent, as we have argued above, then it remains largely unknowable. Im going to focus on my science. It wont be probably too much longer, theyll find themselves being victims of some possible decision-making at higher levels that is going to hurt their science. WebMerton's theory of deviance is derived from Durkheim's idea of anomie. 8600 Rockville Pike Foremost among Mertons critics has been Michael Mulkay (1976, 1980). We audio-taped and transcribed each discussion, with the participants permission. Of the 8 original norms and counternorms, 3 differ by career stage. Mulkay (1976) has argued that these counternorms can also be interpreted, by participants as well as by observers, as being essential to the furtherance of science (p.639). Communality 2. (If we were to accept Mulkays interpretation of the norms, that we should instead look to outsiders for articulation of expectations or normative principles, the situation is not much better, since the relevant reference groups outside science appear far too dispersed and diffuse in focus to provide reliable indications of the norms.). Do the Mertonian norms together with Mitroffs counternorms adequately represent the norms of science? He didnt even take a shower. Others talked about graduate students who observe the demands of the academic life and choose not to accept such a calling. Universalism requires evaluating claims according to preestablished impersonal criteria rather than on the personal or social attributes of their protagonist (Merton 1973, 270). Inclusion in an NLM database does not imply endorsement of, or agreement with, Peer review is a part of governance in the sense that it represents scientists input into and control of decisions about the direction of science and its thousands of specialties. Melissa S. Anderson, Professor of Higher Education, University of Minnesota. Institutional theories of organizations (Meyer and Rowan, 1977) emphasizes the critical importance of such facades as a means of protecting an institutions core activities from external interference and maintaining institutional legitimacy, which is the basis for continued support from external agents. WebThis framework for thinking ethically is the product of dialogue and debate at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University. Three analysts who have extensively studied the normative system of science have made similar suggestions. Barnes and Dolby (1970) argue against the binding nature of the norms on scientists behavior. The normative aspects of scientists discussions about their work are revealed in their articulation of assumptions about proper or ideal behavior, as well as the uneasiness, surprise and cautiousness they expressed when discussing what they saw as inappropriate behavior. In each case, the norm was countered to some extent by discussion of a competing and sometimes emergent counternorm. To assess the extent to which the responder set is representative of the sample, we compared the demographic profiles of the first and last responders, in quartiles. Merton's representation of the normative character of science has proved to be one of the most enduring of all sociological analyses. Europe PMC is an archive of life sciences journal literature. Our focus-group discussants talked about a broad range of responsibilities that they fulfill or, in the case of the postdoctoral fellows, anticipate fulfilling in faculty positions.

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