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On asking the right kind of question in biological research

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On asking the right kind of question in biological research. Neue Aussichten für die Pflanzenzüchtung: Gen-Übertragung mit dem Ti-Plasmid

Part of the book series: Rheinisch-Westfälische Akademie der Wissenschaften ((VN,volume 300))

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Abstract

As all scientific research begins with a question it is of prime importance to the progress of science that the researcher learns to formulate the right kind of question. This has often been stated, for example by Claude Bernard [1] in 1865 in his Introduction to the study of experimental medicine, and more recently by Lehninger [2] in the introductory chapter of his textbook of biochemistry. Generally speaking, it is one of the characteristics of a ‘right’ question that relevant answers can be found on the basis of existing or newly-developed methodologies. Of questions there are myriads, but questions that can be solved and that are worth while solving are much less plentiful. As Peter Medawar [3] has put it, ‘Research is the art of the soluble’, paraphrasing Bismarck [4], who said ‘Politics is the art of the possible’.

This paper is based on a contribution to ‘Molecular Mechanisms of Biological Recognition’ editor Miriam Balaban, Elsevier, Amsterdam 1979, pages 27–40.

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  1. Oxford, UK

    Hans Adolf Krebs

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© 1981 Westdeutscher Verlag GmbH Opladen

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Krebs, H.A. (1981). On asking the right kind of question in biological research. In: On asking the right kind of question in biological research. Neue Aussichten für die Pflanzenzüchtung: Gen-Übertragung mit dem Ti-Plasmid. Rheinisch-Westfälische Akademie der Wissenschaften, vol 300. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-322-87853-3_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-322-87853-3_1

  • Publisher Name: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-531-08300-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-322-87853-3

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