{"id":11240,"date":"2024-05-28T17:30:32","date_gmt":"2024-05-28T20:30:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/?p=11240"},"modified":"2024-06-18T13:33:14","modified_gmt":"2024-06-18T16:33:14","slug":"soft-forensic-engineering-investigation-and-peer-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/2024\/05\/28\/soft-forensic-engineering-investigation-and-peer-review\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Soft&#8221; forensic engineering investigation and peer review"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>I recently saw reference online to <span class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\"><em>soft science<\/em> <\/span>and <span class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\"><em>hard science<\/em>.<\/span>  I was researching topics while also looking at titles of blogs I had posted in the past.  My research was in the nature of an assessment of what more needs to be known about forensic engineering investigation and expert services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The adjective &#8220;soft&#8221; in the reference troubled me and this not reflecting well on forensic work.  Particularly a forensic investigation that had not been peer reviewed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I found a lot of comment in the literature on <span class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\"><em>what&#8217;s soft science as distinct from hard science.<\/em> <\/span> In the engineering spirit of trying to keep it simple I settled on the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><span class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\"><em>Hard science<\/em> <\/span>relies on math, physics  and chemistry and has more control of the variables and conclusions in applying the scientific method<\/li><li><em><span class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">Soft science<\/span><\/em> relies on empirical data &#8211; originating in or based on observation or experience &#8211; and has less control of the variables and conclusions<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>If science can be soft and engineering is applied science can it be said there is <em><span class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">soft<\/span><\/em> and <em><span class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">hard engineering<\/span><\/em>?  Would engineering relying on the Observational Method be an example of soft engineering? (Refs 1, 2 and 3)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-red-color\">Why do I think this is relevant?<\/span><strong><span class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-red-color\"> <\/span><\/strong> Because, to the uninformed <em><span class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">soft engineering<\/span><\/em> might not be seen as engineering.  Does that mean soft science is not science?  I don&#8217;t think so; check out the discussion at Wikipedia.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But, if nothing else, <em><span class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-red-color\">perceiving engineering as soft opens it up to hostile rebuttal review<\/span><\/em>.  That&#8217;s all the more reason for peer review particularly when a forensic engineering investigation is of a soft engineering failure.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>***<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Examples of soft engineering: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Investigation of the cause of a personal injury accident like slip and fall accidents<\/li><li>Forensic engineering investigation of failures, particularly of structures in the natural environment &#8211; in and on the ground &#8211; compared to those in the built environment &#8211; above the ground<\/li><li>Design of shoring for an excavation<\/li><li>Design and construction of foundations, particularly on soft and loose soils<\/li><li>Flood water protection<\/li><li>Design and construction of stable cut slopes.  (A cut slope is a slope in natural, undisturbed soil, like along the side of a highway)  <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>References<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol><li><em>One forensic observation does not a cause make <\/em>Posted July 18, 2023<\/li><li><em>Observational Method: Example #1<\/em> Posted July 31, 2023<\/li><li><em>Observational Method: Example #2<\/em> Posted August 29, 2023<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p><em>(Posted by Eric E. Jorden, M.Sc., P.Eng. Consulting Professional Engineer and Forensic Engineer, Geotechnology Ltd., Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, May 28, 2024&nbsp;<strong><span class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-red-color\">ejorden@eastlink.ca<\/span><\/strong>)&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>***<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I recently saw reference online to soft science and hard science. I was researching topics while also looking at titles of blogs I had posted in the past. My research was in the nature of an assessment of what more &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/2024\/05\/28\/soft-forensic-engineering-investigation-and-peer-review\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11240"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11240"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11240\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11580,"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11240\/revisions\/11580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}