Observing the Assessment of Research Information by Peer Reviewers, Newspaper Reporters, and Potential Governmental and Non-Governmental Users: International Peace Project in the Middle East
Carla Linton Brown
A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Education of Harvard University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Education
1996
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© 1996 Carla Linton Brown. All rights reserved.
Summary
For her doctoral dissertation, “Observing the Assessment of Research Information by Peer Reviewers, Newspaper Reporters, and Potential Governmental and Non-Governmental Users: International Peace Project in the Middle East,” Carla Linton Brown at Harvard University interviewed elite policy makers who worked in diplomacy and related fields. She studied how policy makers examined the research into the sociological effects of IDT on quality of life and on reduction of violence and war deaths. She found that when policy makers explored this research, they needed:
- Context in order to evaluate this innovation
- Time away from the daily pressures of responsibility to explore the research and innovation
- Perspective and support from others who may have implemented the program and who could answer practical questions, and
- Cultural acclimation – a way to look beyond stereotypes they may have associated with this innovation.
Some of Dr. Brown’s respondents were very receptive to the research, but still had questions about how it worked. For example, diplomats explained to Dr. Brown that although they found the research to be compelling, they were too busy plugging up the latest hole in the Middle East peace process to have the time to consider how this innovation could be used or how it would work.
Dr. Brown also found that many policy makers had stereotypical or prejudicial views about an innovation originating in ancient India. Because of the potential for deliberate misrepresentation of the IDT research by biased reviewers, it is hoped that readers of this paper unfamiliar with IDT research will take the time to carefully study a paper by Dr. Carla Linton Brown published in the Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 2005, 489–544 [PDF available by clicking here] that is based on her Harvard University doctoral dissertation.
The Harvard dissertation is available online. [341 page document]
