ABCs of research: achieving breakthrough collaborations
There are four basic research principles:
Basic research is curiosity driven.
Basic research employs reductionist models.
Basic research searches for universal principles.
Basic research relies on simplifications and idealization.
Do these rules still apply? Ivory tower academia has long weathered accusations of remaining out of touch, pedantic, and weighed down by esoteric practices. Old models of research, conducted in dusty, solitary libraries, have difficulty translating to the fast-paced technological models and the rapid growth of the internet.
The new era of research requires new models; the future will require collaboration over solitude and the integration of innovation with time-worn methods. Two guiding theories are the ABC and SED models. ABC (‘Applied and Basic Combined’) promotes the ability to produce both models of research in order to created high-impact research. The SED principle (‘Science Engineering and Design’) further blends methods of science, engineering, and design to create invigorating new discoveries. Old practices are infused with new life, and proves the integration of information is much like the time-worn truth: the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
“Theory without practice cannot survive and dies just as quickly it lives. He who loves practice without theory is like the sailor who boards a ship without a rudder and compass and never knows where he may cast.”
- Leonardo da Vinci
Image credit: Science word map by Ben Shneiderman. Reused with permission from the author.