Identify and explain the three norms of science discussed in your text, and, for each, discuss how meeting them may be difficult or undermined for some groups in society

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The three norms discussed in the text are objectivity, knowledge should be public, and disinterestedness.
Objectivity refers to the norm that judgments are based on empirical verification, not on personal feelings or opinions. Scientists must check their personal lives at the laboratory door, and differences in class, race, and nationality should make no difference in procedure or results. Anyone using the scientific method should be able to arrive at the same conclusions— regardless of his or her personal characteristics. However, some social science research may be dismissed and not trusted if it is done by people who do not have the experience they are studying, for example a White person who may be too biased to arrive at any reliable conclusions about Black people or even about his or her own group.
Knowledge should be public –scientific knowledge should be open to everyone. Research results should be public knowledge; data should be shared with colleagues. Technological advances in applied science can be patented, but the pure research, the science behind the technology, is available to all. The most common method of providing this access is through publication in scholarly journals. Scientists feel obliged by the norm of common ownership to publish their studies and to make their data available to anyone who wishes to replicate their studies. For example, the data sets of the General Social Survey are available to all social scientists. The norm of common ownership is threatened or undermined because public money for basic research has decreased in recent years. Research money is available from the military and private industry, but because of concerns about military secrecy or possible bias by private industry which is seeking profit, the knowledge is often not made public. In addition, access to research funding and access to publications are controlled by "gatekeepers," established scientists who may be less likely to allow access to those doing non-standard research or to minorities.
Disinterestedness refers to the norm that scientific research should not be conducted for personal goals, such as fame or glory, and certainly not for money, but for the pursuit of scientific truth. Unfortunately, this norm is constantly undermined. The new partnerships between universities and private corporations push scientists away from performing basic research and more toward applied research. Second, the enormous amount of money that is possible if one has a financial interest in discoveries that can be big business—drugs, energy, weapons, for example— also lures science away from the disinterested pursuit of truth.