[lit-ideas] Research Motive Theory?
- From: "Eric Yost" <mr.eric.yost@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 15 Nov 2011 03:15:08 -0500
Probably reinventing the wheel here, but I think it would be a fruitful
academic discipline.
In medicine for example, countless medical studies on coffee, seem to be
initiated by the desire to find bad aspects about what Addison (I think) called
“slopkettle.” Yet coffee usually comes out a winner. Same with red wine. Study
after study and one can almost sense the researchers stifling their urge to say
“Drat!”
Why is coffee chosen for study? Probably because people are stimulated by it.
They get a lift from it so it must be bad … seems to be the “research motive.”
Few if any studies are done on the effects of household cleaners, for example.
Seems there should be a discipline that studies research motives – beyond the
merely fiscal explanation – and holds research up to the mirror it presumes to
hold up for us.
Other related posts:
