高等教育ジャーナル = Journal of Higher Education and Lifelong Learning;第20号

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The Relation Between Psychological Change and Scientific Misconduct in Millikan’s Oil-drop Experiments

Ikeda, Fumihito

Permalink : http://hdl.handle.net/2115/56817
JaLCDOI : 10.14943/J.HighEdu.20.1

Abstract

Robert Andrews Millikan submitted two papers on measurements of the elementary charge of the electron to Physical Review in 1911 and 1913. In the 1911 paper, Millikan disputed the results of Felix Ehrenhaft. Then, in the 1913 one, Millikan manipulated the data to “enhance” the accuracy of his measurements. This manipulation could be described as scientific misconduct. In this paper, I examine the differences in wording between the two papers statistically and analyze the relation between the differences and the change in his mental state from the viewpoint of Transactional Analysis. In the results, there were more declarative expressions in the 1911 paper than in the 1913, and there were more expressions that emphasized the accuracy of measurements in the 1913 work than in the earlier one. From the viewpoint of Transactional Analysis, Millikan’s mental situation changed from the “be strong” driver to the “be perfect” driver and this change led to his data manipulation. If the possibility of scientific misconduct could be detected in papers by this method, we could prevent such misconduct in the review process. In the future, I will examine the relations between wording and the drivers in Transactional Analysis more precisely and develop an automatic system detecting the drivers in scientific papers.

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