The promise and problems of policy-minded developmental research: Recognizing our implicit value judgments and the limits of our research

Abstract

In this commentary, we emphasize several themes: (1) the importance of recognizing the value judgments that sometimes underlie research; (2) the ways in which researchers’ focus on outcomes often clashes with a legal focus on rights; and (3) the need for researchers to acknowledge the limitations of their findings when making policy prescriptions. These themes are interrelated, because researchers are accustomed to thinking of their work as fact-based rather than value-laden, but must confront values when they argue that their research has implications for public policy, particularly when they acknowledge uncertainty.