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Regulatory vs. Academic Science
The standards of academic science are inappropriate to the needs and constraints
of regulatory science. Both try to understand and explain complex, multivariate,
non-linear nature, but they have vastly different constraints. Thus asking a
panel of academic scientists to apply the standards applied in writing for journals
and applying for research grants to making regulatory decisions is inherently
unfair.
Academic and Regulatory Science are different:
| |
Regulatory
Science |
Academic
Science |
| Institutions |
Government/industry |
Universities |
| Goals |
• Information needed
to meet regulatory requirements and to provide reliable information for
decision makers.
• Research questions are framed by legislators
and regulators and often have social and economic implications.
•
Ultimate goal is conflict resolution via public debate over competing interests
and values.
|
• Original research
framed by scientists and driven by rational analysis and expert judgment.
• To expand understanding and knowledge of the natural world through
an ongoing process of questioning, hypothesizing, validation, and refutation. |
| Role of Uncertainty |
Predictive certainty is
required by the political process and by legal requirements. |
Uncertainty is expected
and "embraced." |
| Products |
“Gray literature,”
baseline data, monitoring data, regulatory documents |
Published papers, presentations
at professional meetings. |
| Time-frame |
Determined and driven
by statute, regulation, and the political process; finite and often quite
short (90 days to 2-4 years) |
Open-ended |
| Political Influence |
Directly influenced by
politics: upper-level administrators are appointed by the President; funding
is at the will of Congress; ultimate oversight is by the courts. |
Indirectly influenced
by the researcher’s own political philosophy and by their perception
of the preferences of grant and tenure review committees. |
| Accountability |
Legislatures, courts (moderated
to some degree by Daubert v. Merrill Dow, deference, and to some extent,
the precautionary principle), and the public |
Professional peers |
| Incentives |
Compliance with legal
requirements |
Professional recognition,
advancement in tenure system; university administration |
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