Methodology and methodology of research into the welfare of farm animals. A project within the framework of the LOEWE focus Animal - Human - Society. (Methodology and methodology of research into the welfare of farm animals)
Project Leader: Dipl.-Biol., M.A. Benzing, Birgit; Prof. Dr. Knierim, Ute
Project participants: Prof. Dr. Dr. Köchy, Kristian; Hilbert, Christopher
Project description:
The keeping of farm animals has undergone numerous changes in recent decades. On the one hand, many improvements have been achieved in terms of animal welfare, on the other hand, a large number of farm animals live in conditions that cause suffering, and applied ethology has developed a wide range of concepts and methods to enable reliable statements to be made about the extent of animal welfare and suffering. Upstream methodological assumptions have a significant influence on the design of the study, in particular when an explanation is considered scientifically appropriate and which methods are considered suitable for answering it. For example, attitudes towards the scientific accessibility of emotional experience in animals have changed. While older writings largely call for restraint, as inner experience cannot be recorded, more recent approaches do not fundamentally question the scientific approach. The aim of the doctoral project is to document the changes in methodological research practice and to explicate the accompanying conceptual frameworks and methodological assumptions. The focus is on ethological methods for recording positive and negative emotions in farm animals. The interdisciplinary project, which combines applied ethology and philosophy of science, includes an extensive literature review as well as a reconstruction of the epistemic virtues of the research field.animal welfare research offers an exciting field of investigation to relate changing methodological assumptions and methodological-technical developments to each other.
Funded by the State of Hesse as part of the State Offensive for the Development of Scientific and Economic Excellence (LOEWE)
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