Experimenting with experiments

Philosophers of experiment have acknowledged that experiments are often more than mere hypothesis‐tests, once thought to be an experiment’s exclusive calling. Drawing on examples from contemporary biology, I make an additional amendment to our understanding of experiment by examining the way that `wide' instrumentation can, for reasons of efficiency, lead scientists away from traditional hypothesis‐directed methods of experimentation and towards exploratory methods.

2020

A handbook for navigating our troubled and precarious times, intended to help readers imagine and make their world anew. In search of new knowledge practices that can help us make the world livable again, this book takes the reader on a journey across time-from the deep past to the unfolding future. The authors search beyond human knowledge to establish negotiated partnerships with forms of knowledge within the planet itself, examining how we have manipulated these historically through an anthropocentric focus. The book explores the many different kinds of knowledge, and the diversity of instruments needed to invoke and actuate the potency of human and nonhuman agencies. Four key phases in our ways of knowing are identified: material, strengthening, reconfiguring and extending, which are exemplified through case studies that take the form of worlding experiments. This pioneering work will inspire architects, artists and designers as well as students, teachers and researchers across arts and design disciplines.

Nordes, 2013

This full day workshop intends to explore design experiments to create a deeper understanding of the underpinning mindsets, epistemological assumptions and their implications as well as possibilities within the context of academic research. The participants will contribute with their experiences of conducting design experiments in a variety of settings and contexts. During the workshop the participants will give and get feedback on the experiments presented and explored, and participate in the discussion and development of (new) principles for design experiments in academic research. One aim of the workshop is to develop a conceptual map that categorizes the various design experiments based on their epistemological assumptions and practical implications for design practice as well as academic research.

In design practice and in design research the term ‘experiment’ is widely used and often misused. To some extent, this can be ascribed to the fact that the experimental method comes close to or partly overlaps the approaches of ‘trial and error’ and ‘reflection-in-action’, as defined by Donald Schön. Nevertheless, these methods or rather approaches differ in regard to their aims, results, and context of application. Based on an investigation in design literature and various case examples from practice-led doctoral research, this paper attempts to highlight the differences between scholarly experiment,‘trial and error’ and ‘reflection-in-action’. The initial point of this investigation is from the perspective of the so-called New Experimentalism: a branch of the philosophy of natural science, and from the work of Ian Hacking that redirected and broadened the traditional conception of experiment. Hence, the role of creative practice in design research will be scrutinized from the perspective of New Experimentalism. The goal is to justify the role of artefacts in practice-led design research and in making and doing (action, intervention) as an experimental practice that contributes to the creation of knowledge and the construction of theory.

The Reasoner, 2012

Experimentation is used differently in science, engineering, and science education. The aim of many science fairs is to encourage young talent in scientific inquiry. Based on 57 interviews with participants of a German youth science fair, this article points out typical students' conceptions about the procedure and the purpose of experimentation. The analysis of the interview data revealed that the derived concepts firstly depend on each other and secondly reflect the differences in the way of thinking and working between scientists and engineers. Since experiences with experimentation provide the basis for learning and thus for the conceptual knowledge about science, we conclude that it is essential, for science education, to distinguish the engineer's and the scientist's point of view and to implement more authentic inquiry in science lessons at school.

Automated Experimentation, 2009

Practicing and studying automated experimentation may benefit from philosophical reflection on experimental science in general. This paper reviews the relevant literature and discusses central issues in the philosophy of scientific experimentation. The first two sections present brief accounts of the rise of experimental science and of its philosophical study. The next sections discuss three central issues of scientific experimentation: the scientific and philosophical significance of intervention and production, the relationship between experimental science and technology, and the interactions between experimental and theoretical work. The concluding section identifies three issues for further research: the role of computing and, more specifically, automating, in experimental research, the nature of experimentation in the social and human sciences, and the significance of normative, including ethical, problems in experimental science.

The Routledge Companion to Thought Experiments, 2018

A recent review by Jacques Du Toit, Nelius Boshoff, and Niclesse Mariette finds that planners rarely use experimental research designs. This commentary examines why experimentation is rare in planning and discusses the legitimate challenges involved with conducting experiments in a planning context. In doing so, we aim to foster a discussion on the feasibility of conducting experimental research in our field. While not all planning policies are amenable to experimentation, we see untapped potential in many areas of planning, especially on questions of public engagement. Collectively we hope that planners can begin to identify more instances in which experimental research is possible.

Contrary to its typical presentation in scientific publications as a certain and linear process, in reality the experimental method, not least the design aspect of it, requires a great deal of trial-and-error and ad hoc decision-making on the part of the researchers. This uncertain and contingent aspect of research, although little known outside of the circle of experts, has important implications for our understanding of the nature of science and scientific findings. This paper offers a backstage perspective to experiment design, where the uncertain and contingent nature of experimental research is at its starkest. It draws on insights from the sociological perspective of ethnomethodology through the auto-ethnographic first-hand experience of one of the author's own social psychology experiment (Ting, 2018). Based on detailed lab notes and planning documents on how and why design changes were made, the analysis focuses on the evolution of the experiment design, particularly the researcher's in situ practical reasoning for how to make the experiment work. From this we show how ethno-methods shape experiment results and highlight the inseparability of social science experimentation from in situ practical reasoning Keywords: behavioral experiment, lab ethnography, ethnomethodology, social life of methods 2

TheScientificWorldJournal, 2014

Experiments play a central role in science. The role of experiments in computing is, however, unclear. Questions about the relevance of experiments in computing attracted little attention until the 1980s. As the discipline then saw a push towards experimental computer science, a variety of technically, theoretically, and empirically oriented views on experiments emerged. As a consequence of those debates, today's computing fields use experiments and experiment terminology in a variety of ways. This paper analyzes experimentation debates in computing. It presents five ways in which debaters have conceptualized experiments in computing: feasibility experiment, trial experiment, field experiment, comparison experiment, and controlled experiment. This paper has three aims: to clarify experiment terminology in computing; to contribute to disciplinary self-understanding of computing; and, due to computing's centrality in other fields, to promote understanding of experiments in mod...

2017

Computer Graphics, 1991

for the Arts Secondary schools now offer computer graphics courses which meld the disciplines of the arts and sciences. Students are demanding more than the required computer literacy courses and are challenging their teachers to incorporate graphics into their specific area(s) of interest. Many courses are offered through their art departments and with specialized courses in science and math. Cooperative learning is beneficial since facilities, equipment and resources are major impediments. Students sharing computers and teaching one another have become commonplace. This panel of secondary school educators will share their experiences with curriculum, research, administrative support and examples of student work. Each panel member brings to this endeavor enthusiasm and personal pride in their research and individual school programs. Presently Spring Independent School District offers computer graphics education through the Pyramid Program of Special Experiences. Special Experiences are workshops designed by teachers in various subject areas to extend and enrich the curriculum beyond regular classroom education. These workshops are usually Permission to c(~py wilhoul fee all or parl of Ihis material is granted provided Ihat the copies are not made or dislribated for direct comnlercial advantage, lhe ACM copyril~hl notice and the lille of the publiealion and ds dale appear, and nolice is given thai copying is by permission of Ihe Association for Computing Machinery. To copy olherwise, or to republish, requires a fee and/or specific permission.

Practice-based research is a distinctive form of intellectual inquiry in which creative works – images, musical compositions, video programs, interactive installations and so on – form the major components and submissions of the research project. Yet, whilst practice-based research is growing in academic importance, some doubts remain about the methodological integrity and robustness of the approach. In this paper I address this issue by proposing and theorizing a methodological apparatus based upon a new definition of the term ‘experiment’. I suggest that by seeing the creative research project as a network of interacting material/ intellectual experiments rather than a linear progression from problem to solution, it is possible to meet the needs of the academy without disrupting the peculiar rhythm and structure of the creative process in art, media and design.

2018

Starting with a quick and dirty trial at Fab8 in Wellington, New Zeeland, the Fab Lab community has produced a considerable body of research over the past seven years. Together with colleagues Betty Barrett, Tomas Diez and Cindy Kohtala I've been carefully developing this endeavour to collect and present research that has been done at FabLabs, with FabLabs, through FabLabs, and for FabLabs. In this paper I recount how the research papers stream developed, I track the topics and how they evolved over time, I present some of my personal highlights, and I try to relate them to the themes of the Third Digital Revolution.