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| Unit name |
Scientific Method and Ethics 2 |
| Unit code |
VETS23002 |
| Credit points |
20 |
| Level of study |
I/5
|
| Teaching block(s) |
Academic Year (weeks 1 - 52)
|
| Unit director |
Professor. Becky Whay |
| Open unit status |
Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
BIOL11000, BIOL12000 |
| Co-requisites |
VETS23000, VETS23001, VETS23003. |
| School/department |
Bristol Veterinary School |
| Faculty |
Faculty of Health Sciences |
Description including Unit Aims
This unit will enable students to develop approaches to acquiring, evaluating, analysing and interpreting qualitative and quantitative information. Principles of experimental design, epidemiological design and methods of acquiring subjective information will be studied in depth. Students will be encouraged to apply these principles and methods in a wide variety of different contexts.
This unit will also equip students with an understanding of the relation between science, ethics, morality and society, and the place of animals within different historical and cultural contexts. The great moral traditions and key concepts in ethical thought will be examined in detail. Ethical frameworks will be used to guide decision making in questions of animal use.
Aims:
- Ethics Element: To refine the ability to deal with ethical decisions in science by using a variety of existing frameworks, and developing the skills necessary to develop new frameworks for the evaluation of ethical dilemmas.
- Scientific Methods Element: To refine knowledge and understanding of scientific method through a programme of work on experimental design, epidemiological design and quantitative and qualitative methods of acquiring information and data.
- Scientific Methods Element: To refine the ability to analyse quantitative and qualitative data using a variety of analyses and statistical techniques.
Intended Learning Outcomes
- Describe the origin of ethics and morality as human constructs, and the function of these constructs in guiding thought and action.
- Critically evaluate the philosophical basis of different ethical systems, including utilitarianism and deontology.
- Appreciate what each philosophy has to say about the inclusion of non-human animals within a framework of ethical concern.
- Understand the concept of a morally relevant difference and discuss this in relation to the differential ethical treatment of human and non-human animals.
- Present an argument from a particular standpoint and listen actively to an opposing viewpoint, and understand something of the process of viewpoint and attitude development.
- Use practical published frameworks in decision-making exercises about animal-use, and apply this knowledge in new contexts.
- Know and understand the relevance of different qualitative and quantitative methods of acquiring data.
- Develop the transferable skills associated with experimental design, epidemiological design and the acquisition of qualitative and subjective data.
- Use a range of established techniques to analyse quantitative and qualitative data, undertake critical analysis of information and propose solutions to problems arising from that analysis.
Assessment Information
The unit is assessed as a whole with 50% of the total unit mark coming from the ethics element and 50% from the scientific methods element.
Reading and References
- Dolins, F. 1999 Attitudes to Animals, Cambridge University Press
- Singer, P. 1990 A Companion to Ethics, Blackwell Companions to Philosophy, Blackwell.
- Animal Welfare (1997) Ed. M.C.Appleby & B.O.Hughes. Published by CAB International. ISBN 0 85199 180 7
- Sandøe P and Christiansen S.B. 2008 Ethics of Animal Use, Published by Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 140515120X
Scientific methods Element:
- Swinscow TDV & Campbell MJ 2002 Statistics at Square One (10th ed), BMJ Books.
- Coggon D, Rose G & Barker DJP 2003 Epidemiology for the Uninitiated (5th ed), BMJ Books.
- Matthews, Bowen, and Matthews, 1996. Successful Scientific Writing. CUP
(Note: individual lecturers may provide you with additional suggested reading that is specific to their topic.)
