Where athletic coaches have drills ready, for research I feel like it would be more like a procedure for identifying and rectifying a mistake. I strongly suspect that this falls under the heading of “things good researchers do anyway”, for example:
1. When checking a conclusion, notice that one element of the arguments is too weak
2. That element is too weak because it lies outside the researcher’s core of expertise and so the implications were unclear to them
3. The researcher seeks out a colleague who has better expertise so as to understand the implications better
The thing is I expect a very large difference between this being something a researcher may or may not do on their own, versus something that will happen because it is the group expectation and everything is organized to make it as easy as possible. The more reliable this kind of supporting infrastructure is, the more we could extend it down below the level of genius (to turn mediocre researchers into competent ones, say).
Strongly agree that research progress usually happens because of networks of individuals with good norms/protocols such as checking each other’s work.
The things you mention seem more like skills to be taught once (or a few times) and practiced naturally, than things to be drilled repeatedly.
Where athletic coaches have drills ready, for research I feel like it would be more like a procedure for identifying and rectifying a mistake. I strongly suspect that this falls under the heading of “things good researchers do anyway”, for example:
1. When checking a conclusion, notice that one element of the arguments is too weak
2. That element is too weak because it lies outside the researcher’s core of expertise and so the implications were unclear to them
3. The researcher seeks out a colleague who has better expertise so as to understand the implications better
The thing is I expect a very large difference between this being something a researcher may or may not do on their own, versus something that will happen because it is the group expectation and everything is organized to make it as easy as possible. The more reliable this kind of supporting infrastructure is, the more we could extend it down below the level of genius (to turn mediocre researchers into competent ones, say).
Strongly agree that research progress usually happens because of networks of individuals with good norms/protocols such as checking each other’s work.
The things you mention seem more like skills to be taught once (or a few times) and practiced naturally, than things to be drilled repeatedly.