Journal of Academic Ethics

, Volume 8, Issue 3, pp 161–169 | Cite as

At Arm’s Length? Applied Social Science and its Sponsors

Article
First Online:

Abstract

The article deals with trust in applied social science research in the light of applied researchers’ increased dependence on project funding. Taking Norway as a case study it shows how the societal organization of research funding has implications for scientific freedom and ultimately for the confidence we have in research. The article gives an account of various ways the sponsors can influence on applied social science research and discusses the legitimacy of different limitations on scientific freedom. The article concludes with proposals for how the challenges to scientific freedom posed by the research funding framework can be addressed structurally, as well as on the level of the research community.

Keywords

Scientific freedom Applied social sciences Sponsors Norway 
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Notes

Acknowledgements

This article has been produced with project funding from the PETROSAM programme of the Research Council of Norway. The project ‘RUSSCASP—Russian and Caspian energy developments’ is being conducted by the Fridtjof Nansen Institute, the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs and Econ Pöyry as consortium partners, together with other institutions and researchers.

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Norwegian Institute of International AffairsOsloNorway

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