Research
Curiosity With Accountability
Research begins with a question.
Sometimes the answer is straightforward.
Sometimes the answer is complicated.
Sometimes the evidence tells us that our original question was based on a false assumption.
That is part of the process.
The Research section brings together scientific, technical, economic, environmental, social, and interdisciplinary investigation.
A Commitment to Honest Inquiry
Research should not begin with the requirement that a predetermined conclusion must be proven.
It should begin with a question.
Then:
What do we know?
How do we know it?
What don’t we know?
What evidence would change our minds?
What assumptions are we making?
What alternative explanations exist?
These questions are essential to responsible inquiry.
Science
Scientific research provides tools for understanding the physical world.
Areas of interest may include physics, energy, materials, environmental systems, agriculture, water, technology, and other fields relevant to human development.
Scientific conclusions should be proportionate to the evidence available.
Economics
Economic research explores how resources, incentives, institutions, markets, technology, labor, currency, and human needs interact.
The objective is not simply to defend one economic ideology.
It is to understand what works, what fails, why it works or fails, and what might be improved.
Technology
Technology changes rapidly.
Research is necessary to understand both its capabilities and its consequences.
Questions include:
How can technology improve human life?
What risks does it introduce?
Who controls it?
Who benefits?
Who bears the costs?
What safeguards are appropriate?
Environment
Human beings depend upon functioning ecosystems.
Environmental research should therefore examine both ecological realities and human needs.
The goal should not be to treat humanity and nature as enemies.
It should be to discover ways for human societies and natural systems to coexist sustainably.
Interdisciplinary Research
Some of humanity’s most difficult problems cannot be solved within a single academic discipline.
Climate, poverty, conflict, economic instability, technological disruption, public health, education, and humanitarian challenges involve multiple systems simultaneously.
Interdisciplinary research allows different perspectives to inform one another.
Transparency
Research should be transparent about its limitations.
Whenever appropriate, readers should be able to understand:
- What information was used.
- Where it came from.
- What assumptions were made.
- What methodology was used.
- What remains uncertain.
- What competing interpretations exist.
- What would falsify or challenge the conclusion.
Transparency does not guarantee that research is correct.
It makes it easier for others to evaluate whether it is correct.
Correction
Being wrong is not a research failure.
Refusing to acknowledge being wrong is.
If credible evidence demonstrates that an idea, calculation, interpretation, or conclusion is incorrect, it should be corrected.
Version history and corrections should be treated as part of responsible research rather than something to hide.
From Knowledge to Wisdom
Information is not automatically knowledge.
Knowledge is not automatically wisdom.
Wisdom requires judgment.
The purpose of research is therefore not merely to accumulate information.
It is to improve our understanding so that we can make better decisions.
**Ask better questions.
Seek better evidence.
Admit uncertainty.
Correct mistakes.
Share what we learn.
Build something better.**