Should a scientist/researcher develop and execute projects by his/her own thoughts/vision or be directed by top authorities to solve a problem?
This is a very interesting question. In China, the government stresses more the top design. However, how the top official can't really know the market demand, science development trends. It will need the collective wisdom of the individual scientist.
I think that if the research project is independently owned and funded by the researcher, s/he executes the project by his own thoughts/vision.
If the research project is a project of an organization where the researcher is a salaried member/employee, the policies of the organization will have to be followed. And generally the policy requires that the project be a priority one following the organization's vision and goals. Also in an organization, a research project is composed of a project team, not just one person. In this reality, the researcher will have to work as a team member, where her/his role will have to abide by the team decision. In this situation, a researcher is not absolutely free to "pursue the truth" but will have to consider a ,lot of factors "to solve the Problem". Part of this consideration are organizational priorities and allotted budget, client wants (benchmarking), total quality management, availability of resources, etc. It's a difficult job for a researcher in the corporate world.
The success of any research activity depends on team effort rather than individual performance. So, an individual researcher must take into considerations several factors before conducting his part in the research activity and must take under consideration his/ her senior colleagues' thoughts. The more experienced a research team is more easy it is to fix the budget as well as to find the results and immediate commercialization can be done. Thus, whether the project is designed from top to bottom or bottom to top it depends on the organization project and both approaches can be beneficial.
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