Is Research The New Universal Pill?

Just back from vacation, thinking about how much we depend on, but perhaps over-emphasize the value of research. After all, much of it is either too narrowly focused to be helpful except as idea-starters or is questionably based. Yet it is a concept we're seeing applied in wide-ranging situations and everyone pays attention.

Here are two links related to the value of research very broadly. Both by Kris Dunn, a 10-year HR exec, who may represent the "youth" element in HR executives and what they're thinking on the topic of "research" - some useful, some not so much:

http://www.hrcapitalist.com/2008/02/social-networki.html - a post from his blog on how he's courageously going to research the use of Social Networking software inside his company, a 250-employee medical software company. He rails at HR being too "liability conscious" and then discovers there's logic to it after all… all in the same post. Interesting take on research.

http://www.workforce.com/section/01/feature/25/36/49/index.html - his article in this week's Workforce Management… entitled Avoid Hiring an HR Dud. Great idea. But I'm struck (dumb-struck?) by the questions he wants to ask new HR hires. Again, very specific, not applicable to everyone by any means. Research figures in the question entitled "Performance Consultant" in an indirect way. (This one takes a free registration if you aren't a site-member.)

This is clearly a real up-and-coming HR exec who's developed buckets of confidence… and thinks things should fit his way. It's a blog I'll certainly follow for a while at least.