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Introduction:

In task 1 of this section you learnt that a<a href="http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/applied-research.html">pplied research</a> is an effort aimed at <a href="http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/user.html">using</a> basic research for solving <a href="http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/problem.html">problems</a> or <a href="http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/developer.html">developing</a> new <a href="http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/process.html">processes</a>, <a href="http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/product.html">products</a>, or <a href="http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/technique.html">techniques</a>. 
Applied research is used in basically all aspects of life: product development, behavior, medicine, agriculture, architecture, energy, weapons, arts and culture, music, technology, diseases, health, education &hellip;. you name it. 
Applied research is the most common form of research taking place and it always has a specific purpose in mind. 
Every day we are surrounded by &ldquo;research results&rdquo; that tell us what is safe, right, good, etc. Often we hear contradictory messages. 
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Big corporations spend billions of dollars on applied research with the purpose of profit. They either have their own research departments or contract professional research companies or university departments to do a specific research. They only publish what serve their interests and keep their ongoing research projects close at hand &ndash; those employed are sworn to silence and &ldquo;battles&rdquo; are fought over the ownership to the results. 
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Monsanto tells us that genetically modified seeds are safe and never publish the results of the dangers involved &ndash; the same goes for tobacco, medicine, fast food and many other products we use in the daily life. 
Exxon and other large oil companies tells us that hydraulic fracking is safe and that we do not have any problems with energy in the future. 
Pharmaceutical companies promote all kinds of medicine and never publish the fact that annually hundreds of thousands of people in the US alone die from side effects of the medicine. 
Oil companies pay scientists to &ldquo;prove&rdquo; that we do not have global warming and climate change. 
During colonial times the colonial powers used scientists to &ldquo;prove&rdquo; that Africans were lower types of humans with smaller brains and used this to justify colonial rule and apartheid. 
And the list goes on and on. 
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People and organizations trying to use applied research to unveil the truth often come up against a brick wall and get to experience the power of the establishment. However around the world there are also many examples of applied research used to improve life for The Poor. 
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In this task you will look at examples of applied research and discuss what interests they serve and also learn about &ldquo;alternative&rdquo; examples. 
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Action research and participatory action research are types of applied research and we will dig more into those in the next section.

Directive:

This task is scheduled for 6 hours. 
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<ol>
	<li>Make a brain storm in your trio of applied research results that surround you in the daily life. For example: in the way products are located in a supermarket, products that promise weight loss or beauty, coffee is healthy/bad, how the entire advertising world works, GMO is not dangerous!, alternative treatment for diseases are dangerous and the FDA warns against them,&hellip;..</li>
	<li>Discuss the list of examples and what interests lies behind each of them.</li>
	<li>Watch the documentary &ldquo;RX for Survival&rdquo; &ndash; the episode with Dr. Summer from Baltimore &nbsp;inventing a simple way to give children in third world countries vitamin A. (ask for the movie)</li>
	<li>Discuss why Dr. Summer&rsquo;s inventions and methods are unpopular in the medical world. Can you come up with other inventions that have met similar resistance?</li>
	<li>Read the file together: &ldquo;Applied Research from Haiti Research and Policy Program&rdquo;. Discuss the perspectives of each of the applied research projects going on for people in Haiti.</li>
	<li>Read the file: &ldquo;TCE Medical Research&rdquo;. Study the results from the medical trials &ndash; especially the CD4 count in each group showing a clear result: Placebo got a lower CD4 count, MACS stayed the same but SAM increased their CD4 count. This is revolutionary new for people with HIV/AIDS. Why has SAM not become a worldwide treatment for HIV/AIDS?</li>
	<li>Read the file: &ldquo;What is Monsanto doing to our bees?&rdquo; Discuss what ordinary people can do when up against a multinational corporation like Monsanto.</li>
	<li>Send the results to your teacher or alternatively make a presentation and debate in your team/school.</li>
</ol>

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