Basic research
The basic research (English mostly: basic research , partly also fundamental research ) in the narrower sense is the scientific establishment , examination and discussion of the principles of a science, for example in the natural sciences , in medicine and mathematics .
The humanities, cultural and social sciences such as psychology , anthropology , pedagogy or linguistics provide fundamental knowledge about cultural, economic and social developments as well as about social structures. You create a basis for decisions about current anthropological or social problems and challenges.
Basic research creates elementary knowledge for further research and in this respect differs from applied research and industrial research , which in some cases work on similar fields of research, but consider them with a different focus and other, for example business-oriented objectives. The concept of basic research became popular through the report Science - The Endless Frontier by the American engineer Vannevar Bush . This report also marked the beginning of modern science policy . The term basic research was first used by the US Secretary of State Henry C. Wallace .
In problem-oriented basic research - in contrast to contract research - the questions are developed from problems that can be of a scientific or practical nature.
literature
- Désirée Schauz: What is Basic Research? Insights from Historical Semantics , in: Minerva (2014) 52: 273–328, doi: 10.1007 / s11024-014-9255-0 (Open Access)
Web links
- Basic research: Basis for the knowledge society , Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
- Through dust to the stars. Is research useless without benefit? , Film by the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology on basic research.
Individual evidence
- ^ Roger Pielke Jr .: In Retrospect: Science - The Endless Frontier , in: Nature 466, 922-923 (August 2010), doi : 10.1038 / 466922a .