Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 13, 2026
08:01
Virtual Hand with Ambiguous Movement between the Self and Other Origin: Sense of Ownership and 'Other-Produced' Agency
Published on: October 28, 2020
Against the current: Sole authorship as method in contemplative and conceptual scholarship
1School of Psychology, Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand.
Accountability in Research
|August 11, 2026
Summary
Sole authorship offers a traceable interpretive arc crucial for research integrity in contemplative scholarship. This method ensures clear accountability for interpretive decisions, supporting epistemic and ethical standards in specific research contexts.
Area of Science:
- Epistemology
- Research Ethics
- Contemplative Studies
Background:
- Rising concerns about authorship inflation and research integrity.
- Need to examine methodological conditions supporting epistemic and ethical scholarship.
- Sole authorship's role in specific forms of inquiry is under-explored.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine sole authorship as an epistemically and ethically grounded method in contemplative and conceptual scholarship.
- To argue for sole authorship's support of a continuous and traceable interpretive arc.
- To situate sole authorship within contemplative psychology and related methodologies.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of sole authorship within interpretive, contemplative, and conceptual scholarship.
- Framing sole authorship as a contemplative method grounded in mindful solitude.
- Extending the concept to methodologies like Intuitive Inquiry, heuristic inquiry, hermeneutic phenomenology, and autoethnography.
Main Results:
- Sole authorship supports epistemic integrity through a continuous and traceable interpretive arc.
- It underpins ethical accountability by ensuring clear responsibility for interpretive decisions.
- A unified authorial voice offers methodological advantages in specific contexts.
Conclusions:
- Sole authorship is a context-specific stance aligned with the epistemic and ethical demands of contemplative scholarship.
- It provides methodological advantages not fully reproduced through distributed authorship in certain research domains.
- Collaborative research remains essential, but sole authorship has specific, valuable applications.
Related Concept Videos
01:32The Scientific Method
The scientific method is a detailed, empirical problem-solving process used by biologists and other scientists. This iterative approach involves formulating a question based on observation, developing a testable potential explanation for the observation (called a hypothesis), making and testing predictions based on the hypothesis, and using the findings to create new hypotheses and predictions.Generally, predictions are tested using carefully-designed experiments. Based on the outcome of these...
03:50The Scientific Method
Chemistry is an empirical science. Scientists often pose questions to understand the chemistry in everyday life and seek answers to these questions. To achieve this, scientists follow a definitive series of steps that together make up the Scientific Method. This approach involves making observations, asking questions, building a hypothesis, conducting experiments, analyzing results, and forming a conclusion.
02:40The Scientific Method
Research is what makes the difference between facts and opinions. Facts are observable realities, and opinions are personal judgments, conclusions, or attitudes that may or may not be accurate. In the scientific community, facts can be established only using evidence collected through empirical research.
01:37Reason and Intuition
The human brain processes information for decision-making using one of two routes: an intuitive system and a rational system (Epstein, 1994; popularized by Kahneman, 2011 as System 1 and System 2, respectively). The intuitive system is quick, impulsive, and operates with minimal effort, relying on emotions or habits to provide cues for what to do next, while the rational system is logical, analytical, deliberate, and methodical. Research in neuropsychology suggests that the brain can only use...
01:26Structuralism
Structuralism, an early psychological theory developed by Wilhelm Wundt and his student Edward Bradford Titchener, sought to dissect the human mind into its most fundamental components. Wundt's groundbreaking work in his laboratory set the stage for Titchener to define structuralism's goal as cataloging the "atoms" of the mind—sensations, images, and feelings—akin to how chemists identify elements of matter.
Titchener's approach to structuralism was unique. He employed introspection, a method...
Titchener's approach to structuralism was unique. He employed introspection, a method...
01:14Decision Making: Traditional Method
The process of hypothesis testing based on the traditional method includes calculating the critical value, testing the value of the test statistic using the sample data, and interpreting these values.
First, a specific claim about the population parameter is decided based on the research question and is stated in a simple form. Further, an opposing statement to this claim is also stated. These statements can act as null and alternative hypotheses, out of which a null hypothesis would be a...
First, a specific claim about the population parameter is decided based on the research question and is stated in a simple form. Further, an opposing statement to this claim is also stated. These statements can act as null and alternative hypotheses, out of which a null hypothesis would be a...