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Chapter 5
Modelling Experiments
The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook
William James ,
Principles of Psychology, 1890.
5.1
Introduction
Professor David Gooding (Nov 1947-Dec 2009), a science historian, and I worked
together for many years on the topic of modelling the science process. These models
were validated from examples drawn from history. This chapter presents some of
these examples.
I have suggested in Chap. 4 that the induction component of inference can involve
experimentation as a validation method. The purpose of validation is to confirm
that a particular model conforms to the world. The implied syntactic and structural
elements of models specify relationships between their constituents, but they cannot
show what outcomes that their interaction would produce over time. Simulation,
in general, consists of iterating the states of a model so as to produce behaviour
over a period of simulated time. This stepping through the states of models enables
us to trace the implications and outcomes of inference rules and other assumptions
implemented in the models that make up a theory. We can apply this method to
experiments, which we treat as models of the particular aspects of reality they are
designed to investigate.
Scientific experiments are constantly being designed and re-designed during im-
plementation and use. The role of experiments is to mediate between our theoretical
understanding and the world. It also involves the practicalities of engaging with both
the empirical and social world. In order to model experiments we must identify and
represent features that all experiments have in common. We will treat these features
as parameters of a general model of an experiment so that by varying these parameters
different types of experiment can be modelled.
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