Scientists' attitudes on science and values: Case studies and survey methods in philosophy of science

- Methodological challenges for case studies in philosophy of science are examined.
- An approach treating survey and case study data as complementary is proposed.
- The proposal is illustrated by data from the Toolbox Dialogue Initiative.

This article examines the relevance of survey data of scientists' attitudes about science and values to case studies in philosophy of science. We describe two methodological challenges confronting such case studies: 1) small samples, and 2) potential for bias in selection, emphasis, and interpretation. Examples are given to illustrate that these challenges can arise for case studies in the science and values literature. We propose that these challenges can be mitigated through an approach in which case studies and survey methods are viewed as complementary, and use data from the Toolbox Dialogue Initiative to illustrate this claim.