Quality in Science

The essays in this volume offer a wide variety of fresh perspectives on the assessment of quality in science and technology. They proceed from the premise that while quantitative measures may be useful for gross assessments, a rounded picture of scientific activity requires qualitative measures that are sensitive to the ethical, conceptual, social, and historical contexts of science. Among the questions they explore are: How do we develop such qualitative measures? Are different measures needed for different groups involved in and affected by scientific work? What are the constraints on quality?Overall, the book provides a solid base on which the debate over public assessments of science and the development of indicators of quality may proceed.Contributors include Sissela Bok, Lewis Branscomb, Harvey Brooks, George E. Brown, Jr., Don Fuqua, Orrin G. Hatch, Donald Hornig, Roy MacLeod, Bruce Mazlish, Robert S. Morison, Kenneth Prewitt, Doug Walgren, Peter Weingart, and Daniel Yankelovich.Marcel Chotkowski La Follette is editor of the journal Science, Technology, & Human Values, in which most of these essays first appeared.