The Critical Assessment of Research

3

Sponsorship and funding

Introduction

Research requires funding: researchers, unless they are very wealthy, need to earn a living, and research itself generally requires tools and materials that are rarely free of charge. Funding is therefore generally necessary, and it should come as no surprise that those who provide the funding for the research often have interests in the findings. Given such interests, it should also come as no surprise that those who provide the funding sometimes try to use their position to influence the research process or the way in which the findings are interpreted.

The first two cases we discuss in this chapter illustrate how the economic interests of funders can influence both the way research findings are viewed ...