RAND Standards for High-Quality Research and Analysis
Overview | General Standards | Special Standards
Special Standards for High-Quality Research
The standards for high-quality research described previously are general ones that RAND uses in the conduct and evaluation of all its studies. There are other standards that only the most outstanding studies meet. The additional standards below describe special qualities of studies that RAND uses to define its institutional legacy. They are essential to characterizing what it means for research to be "RAND-like."
The research is comprehensive and integrative.
Over the years, RAND has been distinguished by its willingness and ability to go beyond the scope of work a client might originally propose when doing so could illuminate longer-term or broader-based issues in addition to those generated by a specific research question. RAND's multidisciplinary research style enables the analysis of problems from a wide variety of perspectives that can be synthesized into a coherent whole.
The research is innovative.
RAND has a reputation for producing innovative solutions to complex problems. All high-quality research is expected to add to the understanding of the research area — i.e., to make findings or to draw conclusions that were not previously recognized. But if the research is also distinguished by freshness of design, approach, or ideas, it is innovative. If it develops new methods or ideas, applies old ones in new ways, or adapts them to new problem areas, it is innovative.
The research is enduring.
Much of RAND's policy research is undertaken in response to the immediate, specific concerns of its clients. Historically, however, RAND has sought to go beyond the short term and to gain insights that have enduring value. The best solutions have stood the test of time. This is most obvious in cases where research findings were controversial when the work was performed but, in retrospect, are perceived to be sound and correct. It is also clear in cases where a breakthrough methodology, such as linear programming, was developed. It is this quest for enduring value that has provided the most compelling argument for documenting research results and, whenever possible, placing research products in the public domain.
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