Producing Novelty and Securing Credibility: LHC Experiments from the Perspective of Social Studies of Science

该项目是在2016年成立的DFG研究单位--大型强子对撞机的认识论--内密切合作的六个个人项目之一。研究股的主要目标是分析目前在日内瓦欧洲核子研究中心欧洲粒子物理实验室的大型强子对撞机上进行的粒子物理实验的科学实践。研究单位在物理学家、哲学家、历史学家和社会科学家之间建立了一种独特的合作，目的是集体研究大型强子对撞机的认识论。本项目从科学社会研究的角度调查大型强子对撞机实验，从这种多学科和跨学科的环境中受益匪浅。该项目建立在这样一个论点的基础上：粒子物理实验朝着日益集中、规模和复杂性的方向发生的巨大变化，影响了物理学家的实践，涉及他们如何产生新颖性，以及他们如何确保新结果的可信度。第一阶段研究了物理学家如何对新奇事物的类型进行分类并对复杂的未来测量过程进行建模，并提出了“探索性实验”和“认知性创新”的扩展概念。它还分析了研究人员如何在大型研究合作中获得可信度和认可。第二阶段将侧重于社会和物质条件，探讨手段的作用以及集体创造力和个人创造力之间的潜在紧张关系(分项目1)；分析因任务差异和劳动力不连续而产生的挑战，以及标准化研究工具在提高可信度方面的作用(分项目2)。一项关于内部同行审查和非发现的研究将探索产生新颖性和确保可信度的做法是如何相互联系的。该项目采用了定性方法，特别是半结构化和开放式访谈和文件分析。除了对更好地理解大型强子对撞机案例的预期贡献外，该项目的结果还有望为其他研究领域提供洞察力：为极其复杂的组织中的知识生成提供新的视角；动态信任过程和分布式创造力的配置；以及同行评审的多方面作用和不发现对知识生成的重要性。

This project is one of six individual projects that cooperate closely within the DFG Research Unit “The Epistemology of the Large Hadron Collider”, established in 2016. The Research Unit’s main objective is to analyse the scientific practice of particle physics experiments that are currently conducted at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the European Laboratory for Particle Physics, CERN, in Geneva. The Research Unit has forged a unique cooperation between physicists, philosophers, historians, and social scientists with the aim of collectively investigating the epistemology of the LHC. The present project, which investigates LHC experiments from the perspective of social studies of science, is benefiting greatly from this multi- and interdisciplinary setting.This project builds on the thesis that the dramatic changes in particle physics experimentation, toward increasing centralisation, size, and complexity, affect the physicists’ practices, concerning how they produce novelty and how they secure the credibility of novel results. Phase 1 has investigated how physicists classify types of novelty and model complex future measurement processes, and proposed extended notions of “exploratory experimentation” and “epistemic innovation”. It has also analysed how researchers gain credibility and recognition in large research collaborations. Phase 2 will focus on social and material conditions, exploring the role of instrumentation and the potential tension between collective and individual creativity (Subproject 1); and analysing the challenges arising from task differentiation and the discontinuity of workforce, as well as the role of standardised research tools in generating credibility (Subproject 2). A study on internal peer review and on non-discovery will probe how the practices of producing novelty and securing credibility are interconnected. The project employs qualitative methods, in particular semi-structured and open-ended interviews and document analysis. Beyond its expected contributions to better understand the LHC case, the project’s results also promise insight for other fields of study: in providing a fresh look on knowledge generation in extremely complex organisations; on dynamic trust processes and configurations of distributed creativity; and on the multifaceted role of peer review and the importance of non-discovery for knowledge generation.