Braun Tibor, Schubert András (szerk.): Szakértői bírálat (peer review) a tudományos kutatásban : Válogatott tanulmányok a téma szakirodalmából (A MTAK Informatikai És Tudományelemzési Sorozata 7., 1993)
IAN I. MITROFF and DARYL E. CHUBIN: Peer Review at the NSF: A Dialectical Policy Analysis
112 MITROFF & CHUBIN: PEER REVIEW AT THE NSF TABLE 1 (continued) Basic Assumptions and/or Contentions PRO the Current System 7. 'Applicants should receive verbatim reviewer comments or requests but should not know the identity of reviewers;' 'reviewers will be more candid on all aspects of the proposal . . . if their (identities] . . . are kept confidential.' CON the Current System 7. 'Applicants should receive signed verbatim peer reviews or requests;' 'openness would result in more responsible and objective reviews.' 8. There should not be formal appeal procedures for rejected applicants; 'formal appeal procedures will introduce adversary relationships into the scientific community that have heretofore fortunately been missing.' 9. NSF should fund less research at colleges and less prestigious universities. 8. There should be formal appeal procedures for rejected applicants; 'a procedure is needed to check peer review and ensure that important innovations arc supported.' 9. NSF should fund more research at colleges and less prestigious universities. Source: Op. cit. note 13; see also note 15. fully explicated and understood in terms of itself alone; we need to understand, at a minimum, how a position pertains to an extreme counter-position. One main purpose of a dialectical policy analysis is to make as explicit as possible the points of opposition between different views of an issue. Because it is vitally important to understand on which points parties disagree, Table 1 frames the debate and allows us hereafter to take the term 'policy analysis' as synonymous with a dialectical treatment of peer review. Faced with a profound disparity of views, one may be tempted to trivialize or demean the position of one side or the other. Thus, for example, Gustafson states:
