Retorts

Buddy Can You Paradigm?

I can't agree with Dai Gilbertson and Sally Davenport [Innovative Experiments, Sept 1992] on the scientist's paradigm being that of an "intellectual purist" whereas the manager's is "problem solver".

I think that for a large section of the scientific community, the scientist's paradigm encompasses both -- solve the problem and get the answer right. To quote a standard text in Analytical Chemistry (Fritz and Schenk, Quantitative Analytical Chemistry, 5th edn):

"Above all, an Analytical Chemist is a problem solver...By asking questions and gathering information, he or she determines what the actual problem is, then uses experience and intelligence to map out a scheme for solving it."

Nick D. Kim, University of Waikato