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My PI AT A UNIVERSITY has decided that words like "confirmation" are "incremental". Thus, they are banished from all our NIH proposals, which we write and submit 100% WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF RESEARCH DONE IN A UNIVERSITY. Instead, he wants "forward-looking words".

What is a "forward-looking word" IN A UNIVERSITY and what "forward-looking word" means "confirmation"?

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    A "forward-looking word" is not a phrase that exists in common parlance. You should ask your PI what he means by this unusual turn of phrase.
    – Nuclear Hoagie
    Commented Sep 30, 2019 at 17:36
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    Forward-looking words are: Forceful. Compelling. Strong. Emphatic. Stringent. Incontrovertible. Impactful. Disruptive. Buzzwords. And. Hype.
    – Captain Emacs
    Commented Sep 30, 2019 at 22:39
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    @CaptainEmacs bonus points if I have to look them up in the dictionary to see what they mean
    – emory
    Commented Oct 1, 2019 at 15:27

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I think he means that "confirmation" is something you affirm about a thing that already exists. He wants wording that suggests you are looking at things that don't yet exist. Or rather, things that are not yet known. Something you intend to do with the grant that is new and novel, not something that sounds like it is just same-old-same-old, even if it isn't Discover is a good word. Search is another. Research is a search for unknown truths.

If you have an hypothesis that will be stated in the grant you don't want to (say you will) "confirm" it. You want to discover the underlying truth.

But bounce this idea off the PI first.

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  • Thanks. It sounds like jujuvoodoo to me, but I guess using the correct incantations is very important. My opinion on "underlying truth" is that, if it exists at all, there is no way to actually know if you have discovered it, only if your model is insufficiently disrupted by the data.
    – Bryan
    Commented Sep 30, 2019 at 18:38
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    @Bryan, on grant applications yes. Voodoo it to pieces.
    – Buffy
    Commented Sep 30, 2019 at 18:39
  • Because our competitors get to decide whether or not we get funded. What a system...
    – Bryan
    Commented Sep 30, 2019 at 18:43

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