205064 Toolbox for scientific research: From experimental design to understanding the scientific landscape (S+Ü) (WiSe 2024/2025)

Toolbox for scientific research: From experimental design to understanding the scientific landscape
Even though the terms "hypothesis", "prediction", and "premises" are widely present in the scientific literature, better understanding its underlying concepts notably could benefit researchers at various career stages. The benefits can include: enhanced clarity of thought, improved understanding of scientific endeavours, and consequently a higher quality of scientific outputs. In this course, we will elaborate on the concepts mentioned above and their implications for experimental design. These skills can lead to more autonomy in planning experiments and improved capability of evaluating the quality of scientific studies. In addition, because science is a human activity, it has limitations, flaws, and room for improvement. In a second part of our program, we will explore topics such as good/bad scientific practices, biases, publication system, among others. This course aims to increase the participants’ understanding of the scientific method, and the current scientific landscape. The overall goal is providing the participants with conceptual tools and useful knowledge that can help them on their scientific journey. This module is suitable for bachelor's, masters’, and PhD students who would like to improve/recycle their knowledge about scientific method and science. The course will be held weekly, and fully in English language. We will make use of lectures, exercises (for active learning) and reading/discussion of articles.