~Course PM

Examination

  • HEM1 - Homework and Seminars, 1.5, grade scale: P, F
  • HEM3 - Essay, 1.5, grade scale: A, B, C, D, E, FX, F
  • TEN1 - Examination, 3.0, grade scale: A, B, C, D, E, FX, F

Schedule

The course's schedule is available through KTH Social. Lecture and seminar topics are listed below.

Course books

  • Samir Okasha: Philosophy of Science, A Very Short Introduction. Oxford 2002. ISBN 978-0-19-280283-5
  • Nicholas Walliman: Research Methods - the basics. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-48994-2

Okasha and Walliman are both available at the Campus bookstore.

If you do not see the books in the bookstore - please ask staff and they will help you.

Lectures

This is a plan of the course's lectures (updated 7 dec 2017)

Date

Subject Notes (pdf) Reading
13/9 Introduction Download Lecture 1: Introduction.pdf Okasha ch 1
20/9 Definition of Science Download Lecture 2: Definition of Science.pdf Okasha ch 2
27/9 Scientific method 1 Download Lecture 3 : Scientific Method 1.pdf Okasha ch 3
11/10 Scientific method 2 Download Lecture 4: Scientific method 2.pdf Okasha ch 4-5
30/10 Research in practice Download Lecture 5: Research in practice.pdf Walliman ch 1-3, 5
6/11 Guest lecture (Kimmo Eriksson) Download Lecture 6: Cultural Universals and Variation in Meta-Norms about Peer Punishment  link to paper Links to an external site.
13/11 Guest lecture (Martin Monperrus ) Lecture 7: Scientific foundations of software research (no lecture notes)
22/11 Ethics in Science Download Lecture 8: Ethics in Science.pdf Walliman ch 4
27/11 Statistics and other methods Download Lecture 9: Statistics and other methods.pdf

Walliman ch 6-9

6/12

Experimental methodology (guest lecturer Johan Boye)

Science and Society

Download Lecture 10: Guest lecture.pdf

Download Lecture 10_part2.pdf

 

Okasha ch 6-7

 

Seminars and Homework

This is a preliminary plan of the course's seminars and homework assignments.
Homework is to be handed in through https://www.peergrade.io/ (see below) by 20:00 the day before the first listed seminar date below!

Date Seminar Subject Reading

Homework

in peergrade

- - Group number - Homework 0
21/9
22/9
1 Science

Zeno's paradoxes (Wikipedia)
Zeno's paradoxes of motion (Gorham)

Science as Falsification

Homework 1
28/9
29/9
2 Philosophy Okasha ch 1,2

Homework 2

4/10
6/10
3 Research methods Walliman ch 1,2 Homework 3
12/10
13/10
4 Scientific method Okasha ch 3 Homework 4
20/10 - Make up session

Book a slot (see Make up session page)

-

1/11
3/11

5 Scientific method

Walliman ch 3

Tichy (Experiments in CS

Homework 5
9/11
10/11
6 Scientific articles

How to Read a Scientific Article

Recurrent Neural Learning for Classifying Spoken Utterances

Homework 6
16/11
17/11
7 Probabilistic problems Walliman ch 8 and 9 Homework 7
23/11
24/11
8 Panel discussions

Is Computer Science Science?

Failure rates in introductory programming revisited

Becoming experts: measuring attitude development in introductory computer science

Homework 8
29/11
1/12
9 Ethics

Walliman ch 4

Lecture 8: Ethics in Science

Ethical dilemmas

Homework 9
7/12
8/12
10 Analysis of Arguments

Arguments

Logical fallacies

Homework 10

Seminar groups

There are twelve groups; each group has a one hour (45 mins) seminar each week. See the course schedule for dates and times. If you have a schedule conflict with another course, you may swap groups with another student. At the end of each lecture there will be a swapping session by the blackboard.

You will not be admitted if you are more than five minutes late for the seminar.

Figuring out your assigned group number is the assignment in Homework 0.

Homework

Homework is to be handed in on https://www.peergrade.io/, if you have not received an invitation by email please contact Linda.

All homework is due by 20:00 the day before the first date of the corresponding seminar. 

There will be a make up opportunity for missed homework and peer grading at the end of period 2.

Peer assessment

You will be asked to review the work of some of your peers (anonymously). Studies show that peer assessment improves your ability to assess your own work, which in turn improves your performance. For further reading, see the research article The assessment cycle: a model for learning through peer assessment.

The grading of the homework (pass/redo/fail) will be done by the teachers, and results will be reported in rapp.

Missing a seminar 

If you miss a seminar, due to illness or other unavoidable circumstances, there will be a makeup opportunity in the exam week at the end of period 1 and period 2. You will be given a special assignment (reading + oral presentation).

Book a slot for seminar make-up here.

 

Exam

The exam is split into two parts:

  • Written exam for grade E-C
  • Oral exam for grade B-A

See Exam module for more information.

Essay

The purpose of the essay is to give you training in scientific writing and an opportunity to think through how the contents of this course may be applied in a degree project. You will practice both writing in a popular science style and writing in a more scientific style. See Essay module for more information.

Final grade

The final grade is the mean of the Exam grade and the essay grade, rounded up.