Conducting research in modern conditions

Introduction

I wrote this article while working in a state-owned enterprise of a scientific and production nature. This article aims to summarize the current state and structure of research work in the Russian Federation, identify weaknesses and propose solutions for optimizing the organization of science development across the state.

1 Current question state

1.1 Implementation of research projects today

Scientific research is a source of technologies, materials and mechanisms, with the help of which it becomes possible to create products of better quality, lower cost, create methods of treating diseases, deal with natural disasters, etc.

but to do science is a great luxury, since the probability of obtaining a practical result from research results is very small, and the cost of research can reach enormous values ​​due to the need for experimental equipment and raw materials. Thus, only a few commercial companies can afford to maintain their own research unit.
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The vast majority of scientific research is financed by the State through various funds (RFBR, the Ministry of Education fund, etc.) and targeted sectoral programs (Space program, development program for the defense industry complex, etc.).

1.2 What is a scientific work

During the entire existence of disputes over whether mathematics is a science, science is literature, history or art criticism, many different definitions of the term Science have been formulated. From the point of view of the authors of this article, the most logical is the definition of K. Popper , according to which a thought is scientific if it passes through three stages:

1) the formulation of the question;
2) Formulation of the theory;
3) Conduct an experiment confirming or refuting the theory.

This definition is functional from the point of view of the state, which is the main source of research funding and requires maximum efficiency of the money spent . If the work has passed the three specified stages, the report on the work allows you to:

- clearly see that - to solve what problem the research work is directed (under the item “Formulating the Question”);
- use the theory or analytical model, which was confirmed during the verification experiment (points “Formulation of the theory” and “Conducting the experiment”), in other works and studies, while saving money on local experiments;
- exclude theory and model, refuted during confirmatory experiments, when analyzing risks;
- use information about the results of the experiment (point “Conducting an experiment”) when testing other theories and hypotheses, saving money on duplicate experiments.

In practice, however, in our time, funding is obtained for research and development (R & D), in which it may not be a matter of advancing and, even more so, of testing some theories. Such R & D can be directed to the systematization of knowledge, the development of research methods, the study of material properties and technology features. Such research may have fundamentally different nature of the results. Let's try to classify the results that can carry research:

- reference result. When as a result of research work data were obtained on specific procedures or materials. For example, the reference result is the values ​​of the physicomechanical characteristics of a material or the quality characteristics of a part obtained with certain technological parameters;
- scientific result. When, as a result of research work, some theory has been confirmed or refuted. The theory can be in the form of the resulting formula or mathematical models that allow to obtain analytical results with a high degree of convergence with the real experiment;
- methodical result. When, as a result of research, optimal methods of research, experimentation, and performance of work were derived. Optimal techniques can be developed as a secondary product in the development of rational methods for confirming the theory;

1.3 Features of the implementation of research today

Duplication of research results. Due to the fact that the formation of topics and direction in different funds and agencies is carried out independently of each other, duplication of work often occurs. What does this mean both duplication of work performed and duplication of research results. There may also be duplication of work performed with work performed during the existence of the USSR, when a large number of scientific works were produced.

Inaccessibility of research results. The research results are documented by technical reports, acts and other reporting documents, which, as a rule, are stored in printed form on paper in the archives of the customer and the contractor. To receive a report, it is necessary to conduct a long correspondence with the performer or customer of the report, but, more importantly, the information that a report exists in most cases is almost impossible to find. Scientific publications based on research results in specialized journals are not always available, and the accumulated number of studies and a wide range of various publications make finding data not published on the Internet incredibly difficult.

Lack of regular funding to perform search experiments. To create a prototype of innovative technology or the development of a new technology (including within the framework of R & D), an enterprise must have research results confirming the possibility of implementing a new effect. However, to conduct research requires funding that must be justified and supported by preliminary experiments. However, academic departments of universities, research institutes and research enterprises do not have regular funding for preliminary and exploratory experiments, as a result of which new issues have to be drawn from the literature, including foreign. Therefore, works initiated in a similar way will always be behind similar foreign developments.

Low interaction between science enterprises. Low interaction between universities and scientific enterprises is due to the fact that organizations perceive each other not only as competitors, but also as potential customers - consumers of scientific products. The latter is caused by the fact that the scientific organizations so far, in the overwhelming majority, earn money not on the results of scientific activity, but on its implementation.

Use in creating new technologies and solutions of various branches of knowledge and science. The technologies and knowledge that could be obtained by working only in one direction are already known and developed, which can be discussed with great confidence. Today, new technologies are obtained at the junction of various methods and sciences, which requires the interaction of scientists from various fields, while there is no active labor interaction between institutions.

2 Conditions for increasing the efficiency of scientific work

The system of conducting and organizing scientific work that exists in our time in the Russian Federation was borrowed from the USSR and has not undergone special changes since the formation of the Russian Federation. To date, there are the following aspects of the modernization of the system of scientific work:

- The widespread use of personal computers and the Internet to access reference information;
- A large number of accumulated scientific reports that exist in print;
- The use of the achievements of various industries in the creation of innovative technology;
- Developed a market for materials and services that allows you to implement almost any search experiment at low cost, before the opening of a full-scale R & D.

3 Optimization of the research system

Based on paragraph 2, you can take the following measures to improve the effectiveness of scientific work:

1) Creating a unified form "Results of scientific research", with the mandatory publication on the Internet on a special portal after the implementation of research.
2) The technical assignment (TOR) for the implementation of research to describe the result to be obtained in the course of work.
3) Introduce an optimized structure of the organization of research and development enterprises based on the functioning of three divisions: divisions of posing problems and questions, divisions of advancing scientific theories / hypotheses and divisions of implementing experiments (technical divisions).
4) Periodic allocation of funds to scientific organizations for the implementation of search experiments.

Below we describe in more detail about each measure.

3.1 Creating a single form of the research result

In the presence of a large number of scientific reports accumulated during the Soviet and post-Soviet period, the disunity of foundations and research organizations, and the widespread use of the Internet, it is rational to create a single portal of research results for convenient and fast search for reports on the work performed, which would be available as employees of scientific and research organizations, and officials who verify the relevance of a particular work.

As mentioned in section 1.2, it is more rational to make the form of the result of scientific research in three points:

1) To solve what problem the research was directed;
2) What hypothesis was put forward;
3) How the hypothesis was tested.

For each tested hypothesis, its own individual form (separate file) should be compiled, which, in addition, should be supplemented with information about the authors of the study and the organization that the authors present, with keywords for quick and easy search. In this case, the system will allow you to leave feedback from other scientists about the reliability of a particular study and evaluate the rating of authors and organizations. It is worth repeating that the forms of unconfirmed theories will also be of great importance, allowing other researchers not to go the wrong way.

The blank of a reference study, in which not some hypothesis was tested, but “what we get” (properties, effect) for given parameters (properties, modes, etc.), should have a distinctive form reflecting that - quantitative or qualitative characteristics were received.

When creating this system, a major role will be played by encouraging the completion of the database already completed and saved in print reports. At the same time, formulas and models that have not been confirmed by experimental research are of no interest to the system.

The addition of such a base to the research of classics of physics and mechanics will carry a great educational value.

3.2 Regulation of the result of research in TK

The result of research, as a rule, is the final report on research work, which, in this case, has a rather arbitrary form, and can include from 20 to 500 pages or more, which makes the analysis of such a report by other scientists and practitioners difficult.

If a unified system for the formation of R & D results is created, described in clause 3.1., Then it is advisable to impose requirements on the R & D on the R & D in accordance with the system standard in the form of:

- Reference result in the form of characteristics, parameters, properties of a given object or process determined during the work;
- Scientific result in the form of verification of a complex of theories specified in the TK or put forward by the performer in the course of working on the problem (question) formulated in the TK.

At the same time, research and work organization techniques are not correctly set as the ultimate goal of R & D. Methods and programs should be the result of the development of specialists qualified in this area in the framework of organizational work or work on standardization and systematization, or be a by-product of research in achieving a scientific or reference result.

Also in the TOR for R & D, funded by the state, describe the mandatory publication of research results in a single framework.

3.3 Optimized structure of a research enterprise

Based on the rationality of the preparation of scientific thought from the three components of question-theory-verification, it is possible to suggest the structure of the organization of a research organization consisting of three main divisions: the division for finding actual problems, the division for setting up theories and the division for experimental verification.

3.3.1 Department for the search of actual tasks

This unit should be entrusted with work on the review and ongoing monitoring of current tasks in a given industry or area of ​​activity.

The unit will have to perform both analytical work, which consists in studying the special literature, statistical studies, applications from enterprises for carrying out some kind of development, and creative work, which consists in finding problems for themselves, the solution of which can bring commercial profit and benefit to society.

The unit should include people with an analytical mindset with experience in various fields.

3.3.2 Theory Production Division

This unit is responsible for developing solutions and theories that should provide answers to the questions posed or offer solutions to the difficulties voiced.

The unit should include people with a broad outlook on various technologies, as well as great theoretical knowledge. Division employees must constantly study scientific publications and articles.

The two main types of work that a given subdivision should produce are the generation of new theories or solutions, and the analysis and verification of advanced solutions for duplication with already tested or for contradiction with already confirmed theories.

3.3.3 Experimental Verification Unit

This unit is responsible for verification: confirmation or refutation of incoming theories. The unit should include laboratory technicians qualified to work with the available laboratory equipment, as well as masters of model production and metalworking, who are able to manufacture the necessary experimental equipment or equipment.

The unification of research organizations according to the above principle will contribute to their greater cooperation and interaction. The verification of a scientific theory formulated at one enterprise can be carried out in the experimental verification division of another organization with the necessary laboratory equipment, according to a unified application.

3.4 Financing Search Experiments

Small but regular funding of scientific organizations under the article “Performing Search Experiments”, allocated from the company's own funds or by the state, will create the necessary groundwork for the implementation of experimental ideas and preliminary testing of hypotheses.

In the course of a little costly exploratory experiments, erroneous hypotheses are screened out, which can be incorporated into an application for funding under a contract or grant; As a result of the experience gained, new and original solutions are born that are used to create innovative technology.

findings

To improve the efficiency of the cost of research, it is recommended:

- creation of a unified database with the results of research, reduced to one form, including three sections: the question in the direction of which the theory, theory or solution was proposed, and the result of the theory test;
- the regulation of the result of research in TK in terms of determining what type of result should be obtained: reference or scientific;
- to bring the organization of scientific enterprises to a structure that includes three departments: the division for the search for actual problems, the divisions for the formulation of theories and the divisions for experimental verification;
- make regular funding of search experiments.