researchers/researching (was Re: Disclosure Might Not Address Conflict-of-Interest Issues, Wall Street Journal Reports
- From: J <macyinno@xxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 03 Sep 2006 03:06:44 -0400
Jeff wrote:
Previous poster, other newsgroups wrote:> the "mind has an enormous abilityto see
the world as we want." According to the Journal, "We are more likely to<snip>
scrutinize information when it's inconsistent with how we want to see
things, something psychologists call motivated skepticism" (Wang, Wall
Street Journal, 8/4).
The reality is that all researchers are in business. Their real business is
to get grants. So they want to put as good a spin on their findings that
they can. A lot of researchers are looking to expand their business, but
getting more grants and increasing the number of people working their labs,
get promoted from associate professor to full professor or chairperson, get
a better job at another university, etc. If you go to any scientific
meeting, scientists go there to network and share their results. They are
also looking to show their work to those who might be grading their work,
like grant reviewers and journal reviewers, look for new postdocs, etc. And
get more prestige.
The big difference is that with most scientists, they might get a grant that
goes into a few million dollars. Most of that money goes to the university
for indirect costs (heat, electricity, library facilities, retirement funds,
etc.) and direct costs like glassware, computers and chemicals. But if they
make it big with a drug, they might get millsions of dollars, like in cash,
to keep. And their university typically gets some too.
So it is no surprise that researchers will want to have successful projects.
Jeff
.
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