Method
Discuss and reflect on the following questions:
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How does a person become a researcher? (academic pathway, etc.)
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Which professional roles are included in a research team?
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What is a scientific article?
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Where can one find scientific articles? (school library, PubMed, etc.)
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What procedure is followed in preparing an article for publication? (editorial review, etc.)
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Which scientific journals are you familiar with? What characterises a reliable journal and an unreliable journal, respectively
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What is ‘impact factor’ and what score indicates that a journal has achieved a good impact factor? Is a journal’s impact factor always a true gauge of its importance?
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How is research marketed/disseminated to the general public and to other researchers?
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Why might research findings be misrepresented in the media? What are journalists’ and researchers’ respective roles, interests and difficulties in connection with helping research findings to reach the general public?
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How can one decide if a text published online (e.g., on Facebook) is true and reliable? Is there any way to know if a text has been slanted to suit a certain purpose?
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What are the consequences of research fraud (e.g., falsification, plagiarism, ethical flaws, legal violations)? How does fraud affect people’s confidence in research? Can you cite any examples of research fraud that you have heard or read about
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What kinds of ethical dilemmas might arise in connection with research? What rules govern research in Sweden? Give examples.
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How do people in today’s society view research and facts published in the media? Are research findings always accepted? What are your views on the ‘fake news’ phenomenon?
Many of these questions have no right/wrong answers, but benefit students when they are discussed from different perspectives as a class. If the questions are tricky and hard understand, please ask your teacher.
