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Seminar 1 - E. Dyachuk, K. Haikonen, K. Kovi, L. Saarinen, L. Sjökvist. Technology, research and ethics E. Dyachuk, K. Haikonen, K. Kovi, L. Saarinen, L. Sjökvist Division of Electricity Dept. of Engineering Sciences Uppsala University Sweden. Themes. Responsibility
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Seminar 1-E. Dyachuk, K. Haikonen, K. Kovi, L. Saarinen, L. Sjökvist Technology, research and ethics E. Dyachuk, K. Haikonen, K. Kovi, L. Saarinen, L. Sjökvist Division of Electricity Dept. of Engineering Sciences Uppsala University Sweden
Themes • Responsibility • Statistics and Errors • Conflicts
Responsibility Prosecution: • Alledge the defendantsgave a falselyreassuringstatementbefore the quake • Did the scientists weightup all the risks, and communicatetheseclearly to thoseseekingadvice? • ”We just wanted to be warnedthatweweresitting on a bomb” Defendants: • Not possible be precise about the timing offuture events. 30 sec. warning is possible. • The best science can do is talk in terms of risk and ofprobabilities • Seismologistshavebeensayingsince 1998 that it is a high risk area.
Responsibility • What is the scientists responsibility? • -Did they make the right decision or should the have warned the public, with the risk of crying wolf? • Communicating scientific results is called ”the third mission” of swedish universities, but how to communicate that ”low risk” does not mean ”not dangerous”?
Statistics and errors: Reproducibility • Examples from drug research: • 6 out of 53 studies on cancer were possible to reproduce • ¼ av 67 seminal studies • Examples from machine learning: • Overfitting • Estimation: ¼ of results can be reproduced • Examples from publishing in general: • Reviewers pick up 2 of 8 deliberate mistakes (British medical journal) • An article with several obvious errors is accepted by ½ of the journals it was submitted to (biology/cancer)
Good research practice • Disclose sources of error • Use blinded data • Publish also negative results • Reproduction studies are important • Thorough peer review very important • ”Minimal-threshold journals” which demand good scientific quality but not that the research is ”new” and ”significant”
Conflicts • Scandal at Uppsala University, 2007 • The scandal • Public reaction
Conflicts • Mail storm • Leakage of internal mails onto public domain. • Publishing anonymously on internet. • Open discussion by several others in public domain. • Discussion on the credibility of research models.