Theoretical research suggests hypotheses for experimental science

Theoretical research is commonly associated with equations and theories associated with theoretical physics and chemistry, and more recently biology. In these scenarios, theoretical research’s main roles lie in discovering new mechanisms and fundamental principles in areas of science where experiments are either hard to perform or are precluded. These areas include high energy particle physics, weather prediction, and cosmology. But, there is also another aspect of theoretical research that is less often appreciated. Perhaps, it is not even classified as theoretical research. Every research project that has been conceived is dependent on prior knowledge. This is known as theoretical foundation of the project. Importantly, peer reviewers of grant proposal often heavily scrutinized this aspect of the proposal to understand and ascertain if the proposed idea is feasible, and deserve further review. Although not all novel ideas could be assessed this way, the approach of checking the theoretical foundation of a research proposal has served the scientific community well over the past couple of decades. On the other hand, in the daily practice of science, researchers often use their foundational knowledge of the subject matter to contemplate about possible outcomes of their experiments. In some cases, these outcomes could be hypotheses on which an experimental programme in science could be built. Hence, theoretical research need not be so esoteric such as those involving convoluted equations describing some fundamental principles governing the universe. It could be mundane, and lay the foundation of a research proposal, or in the daily practice of science. Most importantly, theoretical research could be the tool on which we propose possible results of an experiment, or it could suggest new hypotheses for an experimental programme.