What are the characteristics of working in science?

Academic work seeks to acquire new knowledge and to expand or review existing knowledge. It involves a distinction among three different types:

• Theoretical work

Theoretical work often involves literature studies that analyse existing specialist literature and develop or review it based on its propositions. Qualitative and quantitative methods are summarized under .

Which quality criteria are entailed in academic work?

Researchers ensure that they adhere to scientific and academic standards. This is the only way to preserve the quality of their . There is a distinction in among the three quality criteria of validity, reliability and objectivity.

Validity denotes the degree of accuracy with which a measurement is conducted. Reliability relates to the repeatability of a study. Should another researcher conduct the same investigation in the same manner, they must be able to obtain similar results. Objectivity refers to researchers needing to overlook their own opinions, because these have no place in the research and portrayal of its results.

Which steps are involved in scientific work?

Questioning and hypothesising form the starting point for academic work, such as an assignment, bachelor thesis, master thesis or doctoral thesis. A then analyses which research already exists in relation to this topic. This literature research involves the researchers in a critical examination of the existing papers. They can subsequently also serve as sources.

Then comes selection of the and data collection, by conducting an experiment or survey for example. Once data collection is completed, the researchers arrange their results in a comprehensible and structured form and evaluate them. This interpretation and analysis involves comparing the results with the initial hypothesis and the research issue.

A final step sees the researchers comparing their own results with the already existing state of research. They provide a summary of the most important findings from their own academic work and their significance, an outlook with proposals for future research and the impacts of the research results. This involves being constantly aware of any possible influencing factors that could have impaired the results of their academic work.