Research Methodology: From Philosophy of Science to Research Design

130 Pages·2013·3.06 MB·English

by  Alexander M. Novikov

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COMMUNICATIONS IN CYBERNETICS, COMMUNICATIONS IN CYBERNETICS,
SYSTEMS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING SYSTEMS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
A.M. Novikov
D.A. Novikov
This book disti nguishes itself from many other works devoted to research methodology
and the philosophy of science in its integrated approach towards scienti fi c research, which
is regarded as the scienti fi c project on all levels – from philosophy of science to research
design. This work studies the basics of the methodology of scienti fi c research and the
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organizati on of scienti fi c acti vity from the viewpoint of systems science and system analysis.
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The book discusses the basics of the methodology including philosophical, psychological,
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epistemological and ethical/aestheti cal foundati ons, the characteristi cs of scienti fi c acti vity, e
including principles of scienti fi c cogniti on, the means and methods of scienti fi c research, a
the organizati on of a research implementati on process and its chronological structure and r
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fi nally, the organizati on of a collecti ve scienti fi c research design.
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The work should be of interest to researchers, students and professionals in the fi elds of

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systems science, cyberneti cs, systems engineering, philosophy of science and project
management, as well as to specialists of applied acti vity in the fi elds of operati ons research, e
programming, mathemati cal modeling of decision-making in organizati ons and economics. t
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ABOUT THE BOOK SERIES d
Communicati ons in Cyberneti cs, Systems Science and Engineering (CCSSE) is a cross- o
disciplinary book series devoted to theoreti cal and applied research contributi ons, that cater l
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to a rapidly growing worldwide interest in a cyberneti c and systemic methodology with an Alexander M. Novikov
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ever-increasing capacity to deal with new challenges in a way that traditi onal science cannot.
y
The series aims to become a comprehensive reference work on and guide to developments Dmitry A. Novikov
within the fi eld and strategies required for bett er implementati on of advances, with a view
to environmental protecti on and sustainable social and economic development. The CCSSE
series targets all working in theoreti cal and applied fi elds of cyberneti cs, systems science
Research Methodology
and engineering, e.g. academics, researchers and consultants, computer and informati on
scienti sts, development and systems engineers, mathemati cians, management cyberneti cists
and systemists, medical scienti sts, and intelligent and manufacturing engineers in industry,
From Philosophy of Science to Research Design
as well as leading decision- and policy-makers.
SERIES EDITOR: JEFFREY ‘YI-LIN’ FORREST
an informa business
Research Methodology
CommunicationsinCybernetics,SystemsScienceandEngineering
ISSN:2164-9693
BookSeriesEditor:
JeffreyYi-Lin Forrest
InternationalInstituteforGeneralSystemsStudies,GroveCity,USA
SlipperyRockUniversity,SlipperyRock,USA
Volume 3
Research Methodology
From Philosophy of Science to Research Design
Alexander M. Novikov
Research Center of theTheory of Continuous Education,
RussianAcademy of Education,Moscow,Russian Federation
Dmitry A. Novikov
Trapeznikov Institute of Control Sciences,RussianAcademy of Sciences,
Moscow,Russian Federation
CRC Press
Taylor & Francis Group
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© 2013 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
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Version Date: 20130411
International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-203-76472-5 (eBook - PDF)
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Table of contents
Editorialboard vii
Abouttheauthors ix
Introduction 1
1 Foundationsofresearchmethodology 5
1.1 Philosophical,psychologicalandsystematicfoundations 5
1.2 Epistemologicalfoundations 13
1.3 Ethicalandaestheticalfoundations 28
2 Characteristicsofscientificresearchactivity 33
2.1 Featuresofresearchactivity 33
2.2 Principlesofscientificcognition 35
3 Meansandmethodsofscientificresearch 41
3.1 Meansofscientificresearch 41
3.2 Methodsofscientificresearch 43
4 Organizationofscientificresearch 59
4.1 Designofscientificresearch 60
4.2 Technologyofscientificresearch 81
4.3 Reflexioninscientificresearch 91
5 Organizationofcollectivescientificresearch 97
Conclusion 103
Appendix.Theroleofscienceinmodernsociety 107
Bibliography 115
Nameindex 117
Subjectindex 119
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Editorial board
MichaelC.Jackson,UniversityofHull,UK
JerzyJozefczyk,WroclawUniversityofTechnology,Poland
DonchoPetkov,EasternConnecticutStateUniversity,USA
VladimirTsurkov,RussianAcademyofSciences,Russia
ShouyangWang,ChineseAcademyofSciences,P.R.China
ADVISORY EDITORIAL BOARD
C.L.PhilipChen,UniversityofMacau,P.R.China
ZengruDi,BeijingNormalUniversity,P.R.China
RaulEspejo,SynchoLtd.andWorldOrganizationofSystemsandCybernetics,UK
KeithW.Hipel,UniversityofWaterloo,Canada
BaodingLiu,TsinghuaUniversity,China
NagendraNagarur,StateUniversityofNewYorkatBinghamton,USA
JohnPourdehnad,UniversityofPennsylvania,USA
BrianHowardRudall,InstituteoftheWorldOrganisationofSystemsand
Cybernetics&BangorUniversity,UK
RudolfScheidl,JohannesKeplerUniversityofLinz,Austria
MarkusSchwaninger,InstituteofManagement,UniversityofSt.Gallen,Switzerland
TThhiiss ppaaggee iinntteennttiioonnaallllyy lleefftt bbllaannkk
About the authors
Alexander M. Novikov was born in 1941. Honored
Scientist of the Russian Federation, Dr. Sci. (Peda-
gogics), Prof., academic of the Russian Academy of
Education, foreign member of the Ukrainian Academy
of Pedagogical Sciences, member of the Union of Jour-
nalists, laureate of the National Prize of the Russian
Federation.
Atpresent,heisheadoftheResearchCenterofthe
theoryofcontinuouseducationoftheRussianAcademy
of Education. He has authored over 300 scientific pub-
lications on: methodology and the theory of pedagog-
ics, the theory and methods of labour education and
professional education, psychology and physiology of
labour. Scientific adviser of 10 Doctors of Science and
32CandidatesofScience.e-mail:[email protected],www.anovikov.ru.
Dmitry A. Novikov was born in 1970. Dr. Sci. (Eng.),
Prof., corresponding member of the Russian Academy
of Sciences. At present, he is Deputy Director of the
TrapeznikovInstituteofControlSciencesoftheRussian
AcademyofSciences,andHeadoftheControlSciences
DepartmentoftheMoscowInstituteofPhysicsandTech-
nology(MIPT).
Hehasauthoredover400scientificpublicationson
thetheoryofcontrolininterdisciplinarysystems,includ-
ing research works on: methodology, system analysis,
game theory, decision-making and control mechanisms
in social and economic systems. Scientific adviser of 6 Doctors of Science and 24
CandidatesofScience.e-mail:[email protected],www.mtas.ru.