Billy,
Excellent thoughts. Policy not based on sound research is a pathway to failure. We run into trouble when our decision makers rely on biased information, false data, Ouija board consultation, or emotional fervor, An interesting development in recent years is policy-by-the-polls. Legitimate survey techniques, widely practiced, have given use regular access to public opinion. Research-based data from the polls change the action and rhetoric of politicians. This is a double-edged sword conundrum. The frequent polls create a more quasi-democratic society. No longer do we have to wait for an election to get a quantitative pulse of public opinion. The problem is that day-to-day public opinion is largely based on sound bite news and Internet clips that are unbalanced and poorly researched. Because I do investigative work for a living, I know that an initial interview from one perspective can convincingly tell a story (shiningly presented on, say, a TV screen). But on further review and after much more data collection, the initial presentation turned out to be badly misleading and one-sided. The public is left with the first impression, and that is what shows up in the polls. What the country needs is more thoughtful discourse at a deeper level (like on this list). Unfortunately, with the Twitterization of our media and society, we seem to be headed the other direction. Chris From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: Thursday, November 17, 2011 3:35 AM To: [email protected] Cc: [email protected] Subject: [RC] The Value of Research The Value of Research There is no profession that does not rely on research to validate what it is responsible for doing. None at all, whether discussing medicine, the military ( which, since Viet Nam, has placed high priority on higher education for all officers, hence colonels and generals with degrees from Princeton or Yale ), business and hence the growing importance of top business schools, social science such as the work done in analyzing population data by the Census Bureau, and on and on through a list of thousands of occupations. This extends to the most common-sense of areas of expertise, to auto mechanics who need to hit the books and learn how computer systems in cars function, to farmers who research soils and hydrology, and to policemen who need to study such subjects as crowd control, forensics, and ballistics. After all, what is the alternative ? No research ? Where is that kind of approach viable anywhere in modern society ? Nowhere except when there is a question of public opinion, or so it seems. About politics, while millions do make an effort to become informed ( another term for research ), other millions derive just about all of their opinions from other uninformed people, or based on nothing so much as values they learned in childhood. In what way is this a "good" ? Which is why Radical Centrists generally take the view that uniformed opinions have no intrinsic value. After all, most of us are professionals of one kind or another and we all are well aware that research has great value. Plus, some of us have written books or professional articles. Any kind of serious writing demands competent research skills, no matter what else may be involved in writing such as sense of style or skill at narrative descriptions. Some are involved in professional societies, all of which place a premium on solid research. Otherwise they would not be professional. Finally, consider any issue on which you take a stand. Any issue at all. How can anyone know that his or her opinions are valid without some serious study ? Without it what one has is guesswork, or the alternative of repeating someone else's views and hoping that those views are true and can stand tests that others may ask for if their agreement is desired. It would do everyone a lot of good, of course, to have some "existential interests," to have friends in the real world, to create adventures for yourself by hiking in the outdoors, to explore the nearest mountain when there is a chance to do so, to seek out the seashore, to take calculated risks when circumstances warrant, for instance, speaking out at a community meeting. But about these kinds of things, mostly these words consist of preaching to the choir. That is, we need to be flesh and blood caring human beings ; all research and no existentialism, so to speak, and life is only part of what it can be, and personality pays the price ; insights may be lost, awareness of entire categories of reality can pass you by, and perspective --what is really important and what is not-- is compromised. None of which anyone here wants to see happen. Or so it seems to me from our many e-mail conversations over the years. Yet when all is said, research is essential. It is safe to say that everyone also takes pride in the kinds of research they carry out, whether research needed for computer programming, or for data analysis to use for customer service purposes, or for making political judgements, and many other things. Which is one reason why we sometimes are highly critical of journalists who don't do the research they are responsible for but fail to do, and similarly with respect to poorly informed politicians. In all of this there is no libidinal contest, or competition among egos. We want to do our best, and to the extent there is competition it almost always is for the purpose of being smarter and more well-informed than those who's views outside the group we are challenging. After all, while we all have our election-to-election preferences, by and large we take the view that both Democrats and Republicans, and others, can be and often are flat out wrong about any number of topics and issues. We feel confident in our views precisely because, as much as it is practical to do so, our opinions are researched. Billy R. November 17, 2011 -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
