Funder exclusive writing should be a secondary by product of primary work

Unlike a typical paid newsletter or blog, funder-exclusive writing is a secondary by-product of my primary work. In this way, I’m not a traditional “content creator.” Sometimes I catch myself thinking in terms of what I’ll write or report next to my funders. That’s not good. Such a mindset, taken too seriously, encourages shallower work designed to appease others. Also, I’m human, so I naturally want to report successes. But this can create the same pressures which exist in scientific publishing: short-term-ism, conservatism, publication bias, harmful over-claiming. In research, it’s terribly important that you be brutally honest with yourself. I don’t think it’s possible to craft marketing-like messages about your “great progress” without closing your own eyes to what’s actually happening—which means you’d better be brutally honest when talking to others about your work.

Nguồn:: Andy Matuschak, Reflections on 2020 as an independent researcher | Andy Matuschak