Accountability and values in radically collaborative research

Stud Hist Philos Sci. 2014 Jun:46:16-23. doi: 10.1016/j.shpsa.2013.11.007.

Abstract

This paper discusses a crisis of accountability that arises when scientific collaborations are massively epistemically distributed. We argue that social models of epistemic collaboration, which are social analogs to what Patrick Suppes called a "model of the experiment," must play a role in creating accountability in these contexts. We also argue that these social models must accommodate the fact that the various agents in a collaborative project often have ineliminable, messy, and conflicting interests and values; any story about accountability in a massively distributed collaboration must therefore involve models of such interests and values and their methodological and epistemic effects.

MeSH terms

  • Biomedical Research / methods
  • Biomedical Research / standards
  • Climatic Processes
  • Cooperative Behavior*
  • Meteorology / methods
  • Meteorology / standards
  • Models, Theoretical
  • Research Design* / standards
  • Social Responsibility*