What Composition of High-Energy Physics Collaborations is Epistemically Optimal
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21503569 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Vitaly Pronskikh (0000-0002-5181-7497, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 36 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 502-515 |
| Publication date | 2022-07-04 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Social Epistemology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0269-1728 • E-ISSN: 1464-5297 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/02691728.2022.2070789 |
| OpenAlex | W4282942136 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 46 |
Computer simulations have recently come to the fore as a crucial tool for studying epistemic dynamics of scientific collectives. One pressing issue in big-ticket, long-term, and crowded particle physics research is the optimal organization of collaborations. This research developed a computation model of collaborations in high-energy physics and performed simulations to investigate the epistemic efficiency of groups and its dependence on the size of such groups and their composition: namely, percentages of pure, partially theoretically competent, and fully theoretically competent experimentalists. The present study reveals that in both small (100-member) and large (3000-member) groups, epistemic payoff as the measure of epistemic efficiency of collaborations is , generally, positively correlated with an increase in both the number of theoretically fully competent and pure (incompetent) experimentalists. We are less certain of such conclusion in the case of the small collaborations. Although the subcommunity of experimentalists who are partially expert is not found to be immediately epistemically beneficial for collaborations, nevertheless they also crucially serve as a transitional community between the theorists and the experimentalists. Predicated on the toy model simulations, I suggest that institutions should provide measures to assist members of the latter subgroup in progressing toward developing a full theoretical expertise
Data science · Epistemology · Physics · Quantum mechanics · Statistical physics · Complex Network Analysis Techniques · Computer Science · Opinion Dynamics and Social Influence · Philosophy · Philosophy and History of Science
Scientific Collaboration and Collective Knowledge
Science in the Age of Computer Simulation
Simulation and Similarity
Rethinking Expertise
The Epistemic Benefit of Transient Diversity
Large teams develop and small teams disrupt science and technology
Organizational and institutional influences on creativity in scientific research
Epistemic Dependence
The Division of Cognitive Labor
The Logic of Collective Action
Epistemic Justice as a Virtue of Social Institutions
Model choice and crucial tests. On the empirical epistemology of the Higgs discovery
Epistemic dependence and collective scientific knowledge
Collective Belief And Acceptance
Collaboration, interdisciplinarity, and the epistemology of contemporary science
The Communication Structure of Epistemic Communities
Epistemic Landscapes and the Division of Cognitive Labor
The Independence Thesis
Ringelmann rediscovered
Critical mass and the dependency of research quality on group size
Epistemic Cultures
| Highly cited | No |
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