The changing identity of research: A cultural and conceptual history

Abstract

Science as a body of knowledge (natural and/or social) and as a method (experimental and hermeneutic) has been discussed and debated for centuries among philosophers and ‘men of science’ (scientists). This paper looks at research, the latest element added to the discourse on science. Science as research (an activity or practice), conducted at the level of individuals or organizations, has received increased attention over the course of the twentieth century in public discourse on what science is. This paper documents how different players enlarged the meaning of research from the academic sphere to also encompass government and industry, and from research to research and development. It also examines the restriction of research to mean laboratory research, and the marginalization of the role of research in explaining economic progress. It is suggested that these changes bear witness to a shift in society’s cultural values: from (basic) research to (industrial) development to (technological) innovation.