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Research as Understanding

kanjun.me · 1,218 words · saved by 26 readers

I misunderstood the nature of research for most of my life, and this prevented me from doing any. An attempt at a more empowering model of what research actually entails.

Research as Understanding October 17, 2021 I misunderstood the nature of research for most of my life, and this prevented me from doing any. I thought significant research came from following the scientific method until novel discoveries popped out. I’d never contributed something new to human knowledge before, so being a researcher—which required replicating this outcome—felt impossibly far out of reach. But it turns out the novel discovery is just a side effect. You don’t make novel discoveries by trying to make novel discoveries. Instead, research is simply a continuation of something we al

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