Normative science
{{Short description|Aspect of science}}
In the applied sciences, normative science is a type of information that is developed, presented, or interpreted based on an assumed, usually unstated, preference for a particular outcome, policy or class of policies or outcomes.Lackey, Robert T. (2004). [https://blogs.oregonstate.edu/lackey/files/2017/07/2004c-Normative-Science-Reprint-Lackey.pdf "Normative science"]. Fisheries. American Fisheries Society. 29(7): 38–39. Regular or traditional science does not presuppose a policy preference, but normative science, by definition, does.Ooms, Gorik. (2014). "From international health to global health: how to foster better dialogue between empirical and normative disciplines". BMC International Health and Human Rights. 14: 36. {{doi|10.1186/s12914-014-0036-5}} Common examples of such policy preferences are arguments that pristine ecosystems are preferable to human altered ones, that native species are preferable to nonnative species, and that higher biodiversity is preferable to lower biodiversity.Lackey, Robert T. (2007). "Science, scientists, and policy advocacy". Conservation Biology. 21(1): 12-17. {{doi|10.1111/j.1523-1739.2006.00639.x}}Wilhere, George F. (2012). "Inadvertent advocacy". Conservation Biology. 26(1): 39–46. {{doi|10.1111/j.1523-1739.2011.01805.x}}
In more general philosophical terms, normative science is a form of inquiry, typically involving a community of inquiry and its accumulated body of provisional knowledge, that seeks to discover good ways of achieving recognized aims, ends, goals, objectives, or purposes.Sabine, George H. (1912). "Descriptive and normative sciences". The Philosophical Review. 21(4): 433-450. {{JSTOR|2177252}}Brueckner, Martin and Pierre Horwitz. (2005). "The use of science in environmental policy: a case study of the Regional Forest Agreement process in Western Australia". Sustainability: Science, Practice, & Policy. 1(2): 14–24. {{doi|10.1080/15487733.2005.11907969}} Many political debates revolve around arguments over which of the many "good ways" shall be selected.Short, T. L. (2012). [https://muse.jhu.edu/article/496890 "Normative science?"] Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society. 48(3): 310–334. {{JSTOR|10.2979/trancharpeirsoc.48.3.310}} For example, when presented as scientific information, words such as ecosystem health, biological integrity, and environmental degradation are typically examples of normative science because they each presuppose a policy preference and are therefore a type of policy advocacy.Landis, Wayne G. (2007). "The Exxon Valdez oil spill revisited and the dangers of normative science". Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management. 3(3): 439–441. {{doi|10.1002/ieam.5630030312}}