POLI.DESIGN ® : A ZIPPER AMONG RESEARCH, PROFESSION

Such factors have remodeled the structure, the objectives and the confinements of research as a practice as well as those of the host organizations. Theoretical research, especially in the realm of social sciences, has stepped aside to make room for “applied research,” which takes the shape of a genuine “servicing” of far-reaching knowledge. The role (and the purpose) of research goes beyond “explaining” phenomena; mainly, it supplies scenarios, courses of action, gateways and solutions for specific applicative environments, which harbor a lot of questions and uncertainties about keeping phenomena on track. Reacting to these new developments, the research programs’ organizational logic and direction have fundamentally changed. Theoretical research, academic in nature and conducted entirely in universities, used to recognize an overlap between those who ask questions (providers of the research question) and those who give answers (providers of the research offer). Applied research takes a firm stand that the actors that ask questions and those who use these questions to investigate scenarios, are different from finding a solution, a practical application. The new way of researching challenges this stance, by assisting agents who require knowledge for pragmatic purposes. In this scenario, research takes a “relative” value, progressing