It’s strange how research work is never looked at as being a creative endeavour. And I mean this in the nicest way possible. But doctrinal researchers aren’t given the same creative status empirical/development researchers are, and I think that’s a very horrible thing.
The thing about research is that it takes you need to think academically about something – which I believe is a challenge in itself. Doctrinal research does this thing where it’s able to present a topic through a unique, fresh, never-seen-before lens, when it’s published. Yet, somehow, that’s never looked at as “creative”.
I take issue with the fact that we’re narrow as a society about what we think is a creative task and what isn’t. People argue that discursive writing is different from creative writing, and that if you aren’t “creating” in a traditional sense, nothing you do requires a creative side of your brain to do well at.
That’s a little fallacious to me, because in my head, everyone is continuously creating in their heads. And academic research is this really interesting creation because it projects a unique argument onto individuals and provides them with fresh perspective about a topic. The writing of an academic work is in itself a creative task, and that’s something that needs to be appreciated a little more.
The lack of appreciation for researchers has even led to a service where people can write thank you notes to researchers. Imagine.
This is legit: https://www.brightfocus.org/send-thank-you-note-researcher
Tejas Rao 