For Federal Government sponsored research, there is a definition. An essential part is the development of generalizable knowledge. One of the tests of whether something is research is whether the purpose is to publish a paper reporting the results. If yes, then it is research. This has raised the question of whether program evaluation is research or if a descriptive survey, producing rates and means, is research. It usually is, but there are some gray areas.
If the government gives you money to do research, such as from NIH or NSF, then it is research. Some Federal agencies give money for programs, that is, to deliver services. These aren't research.
Most research universities now have policies that apply to all research, not just Federally sponsored research.
Some kinds of research are either exempt or expedited. The decision to treat any kind of research as either one lies with the institution and its IRB. This is also where some gray areas arise.
Research universities can take the view that they don't take money to do consulting, they take it to do research. So if money is involved at one of these, then it must be research. I have even heard it said that if they take money to do consulting, rather than research, that this could endanger their tax exemption. I think this is a stretch, but some lawyers take this seriously. (But it's their job to worry about this sort of thing.) The whole point of this is that funded work at a research university must be research if it isn't teaching or service.
Regards,
David Smith
David W. Smith, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Associate Professor of Biometry
School of Public Health - San Antonio Campus
University of Texas
7703 Floyd Curl Dr., Mail Code 7976
San Antonio, TX 78229-3900
voice: (210)567-3560
fax: (210) 567-5942
e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
-----Original Message-----
From: dennis roberts [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Friday, January 17, 2003 12:18 PM
To: Robert J. MacG. Dawson; Jerry Dallal
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: another ethical question
robert's comments lead me to ask: what makes research research? just
because i say it is? or say it isn't?
.
.
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