Poll: does one need an advanced degree in order to be considered a scientist?

Question

Does one need a Phd or masters in order to be considered a scientist? Is a bachelors and a job in scientific work enough? what does "scientist" mean to you?

Answer 1

Conventionally, yes, one needs advanced degrees to be called a scientist. That is because of the scientific method and one having advanced through its steps in practice. But, when young children ask me this same question, I tell them that just as soon as we start using the scientific method, which begins with objective observation, we are being scientists. They like that.

Answer 2

I don't think anyone really considers themselve a "scientist" anymore unless they are 10 years old. Any serious "scientist" would focus on their speciality rather than the general way in whcih they pursue it. E.G. they would call themselves a 'structural engineer' or they would say that they work in 'oncology research'. To me a scientist is someone who uses rational modes of thinking and the scientific method and empirical analysis in performing their research. More often than not, this person will have a PhD or masters, but not neccessarily so. As a researcher myself, a PhD or Masters is the next natural step beyond by B.Sc because I would encounter a glass ceiling that would deifnitely require more education.

Answer 3

With a B.S. in Zoology, I could work in a laboratory as an assistant or technician. In order to be a principal investigator or write your own experiments and results, and be respected and recognized by the scientific community, you will need to have at least a Masters, and for publication purposes, a PhD. You are correct to suppose that in order to be recognized as a scientist for your own merits, you will have to have the advanced degree. There are always exceptions. There are entrepeneurs in science as well as industry but they are certainly the exception and not the rule.

Answer 4

No, one does not need an advanced degree in order to be considered a scientist by me.

To me, a scientist is someone who uses a method to determine facts.

According to the American Heritage dictionary however, a scientist is "a person having expert knowledge in one or more sciences."

Answer 5

Scientist is a very broad term; if you have a scientific job, then, to me, you are a scientist. It does not take a PhD, though many "scientists" do have them.

Answer 6

you've a level in technology and not be a scientist while you're no longer doing examine. that's what quite defines a scientist - somebody who investigates questions (and optimistically publishes their effects for the finished thing approximately others).