Metascience 101 - EP3: "The Scientific Production Function"

IN THIS EPISODE: Journalist Kelsey Piper interviews Convergent Research CEO Adam Marblestone and Professor Paul Niehaus on the inputs to scientific production. They talk through the funding ecosystem, labor force, the culture of scientific labs, and the search for important questions.

“Metascience 101” is a nine-episode set of interviews that doubles as a crash course in the debates, issues, and ideas driving the modern metascience movement. We investigate why building a genuine “science of science” matters, and how research in metascience is translating into real-world policy changes. 

Chapters

(00:00:00) Introduction

(00:01:49) Picking scientific questions with a long view for impact

(00:06:15) GiveDirectly example

(00:08:54) Scientific labor force

(00:13:21) The field architect

(00:20:03) Indicators on the value of scientific questions

(00:23:15) Ideal scientific architecture

(00:29:22) Bettering the funding ecosystem

(00:42:29) Culture in science

(00:47:54) Tradeoff between impact and academic convention

(00:53:48) From a ‘doing’ career to a research career

(00:57:00) Benefit of a roadmap for communicating broadly