Metascience Metascience is the use of
scientific method to study
science itself. Metascience is an attempt to increase the quality of scientific research while reducing wasted activity; it uses
research methods to study how
research is done or can be improved. It has been described as "
research on research", "
the science of science", and "a bird's eye view of science". As stated by
John Ioannidis, "Science is the best thing that has happened to human beings ... but we can do it better." In 1966, an early meta-research paper examined the
statistical methods of 295 papers published in ten well-known medical journals. It found that, "in almost 73% of the reports read ... conclusions were drawn when the justification for these conclusions was invalid". Meta-research during the ensuing decades found many methodological flaws, inefficiencies, and bad practices in the research of numerous scientific topics. Many scientific studies could not be
reproduced, particularly those involving
medicine and the so-called
soft sciences. The term "
replication crisis" was invented during the early 2010s as part of an increasing awareness of the problem. Measures have been implemented to address the issues revealed by metascience. These measures include the
pre-registration of scientific studies and
clinical trials as well as the founding of organizations such as
CONSORT and the
EQUATOR Network that issue guidelines for methods and reporting. There are continuing efforts to reduce the
misuse of statistics, to eliminate
perverse incentives from academia, to improve the
peer review process, to reduce
bias in scientific literature, and to increase the overall quality and efficiency of the scientific process. A major criticism of metatheory is that it is theory based on other theory.
Computational Metatheory Computational metatheory is a conceptual and formal framework based on
Theoretical Computer Science to reason about how theories in the sciences can emerge out of theoretical and empirical work. It is a computation-centered approach to problems such as which properties theories should have, what empirical evidence is relevant in a given scientific problem situation, and how discoveries affect the problem space. As such, it complements prevailing approaches to metatheorizing with a focus on the analysis of computational problems.
Metamathematics Introduced in 20th-century philosophy as a result of the work of the
German mathematician David Hilbert, who in 1905 published a proposal for proof of the
consistency and
completeness of mathematics, creating the topic of
metamathematics. His hopes for the success of this proof were disappointed by the work of
Kurt Gödel, who in 1931, used his
incompleteness theorems to prove the
goal of consistency and completeness to be unattainable. Nevertheless, his program of unsolved mathematical problems influenced mathematics for the rest of the 20th century. A
metatheorem is defined as: "a statement about theorems. It usually gives a criterion for getting a new theorem from an old one, either by changing its objects according to a rule" known as the
duality principle, or by transferring it to another topic (e.g., from the theory of categories to the theory of groups) or to another context of the same topic (e.g., from linear transformations to matrices).
Metalogic Metalogic is the study of the metatheory of
logic. Whereas
logic is the study of how
logical systems can be used to construct
valid and
sound arguments, metalogic studies the properties of logical systems. Logic concerns the truths that may be derived using a logical system; metalogic concerns the truths that may be derived
about the
languages and systems that are used to express truths. The basic objects of metalogical study are formal languages, formal systems, and their
interpretations. The study of interpretation of formal systems is the type of
mathematical logic that is known as
model theory, and the study of
deductive systems is the type that is known as
proof theory.
Metaphilosophy Metaphilosophy is "the investigation of the nature of
philosophy". Its subject matter includes the aims of philosophy, the boundaries of philosophy, and its methods. Thus, while philosophy characteristically inquires into the nature of being, the reality of objects, the possibility of knowledge, the nature of truth, and so on, metaphilosophy is the
self-referential inquiry into the nature, purposes, and methods of the activity that makes these kinds of inquiries, by asking what
is philosophy itself, what sorts of questions it should ask, how it might pose and answer them, and what it can achieve in doing so. It is considered by some to be a topic prior and preparatory to philosophy, while others see it as inherently a part of philosophy, or automatically a part of philosophy while others adopt some combination of these views.
Metasociology Metasociology, or sociology of sociology, is a topic of
sociology that combines social theories with analysis of the effect of socio-historical contexts in sociological intellectual production. == See also ==