Academics vs “acti-medics”: if an academic is an outspoken activist on their topic of research, can we still consider them trustworthy?
Part of the scientific ethos is to avoid getting too close to the subject of their investigation, otherwise they risk having a distorted view.
Even more so in social sciences (incl. political science) where there is ample room for interpretation.
Looking at trends in European and US colleges and business schools, and their impact on policy making, those in power need to be aware and beware of evidence based policy making vs. policy based evidence making.
Nobody is better off if the latter prevails (except for the acti-medics’ ego, perhaps).
**This was originally posted on Andras Baneth's LinkedIn account.