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Research Loop

Research Loop

The loop that feeds real-world evidence back to the researchers who design the mechanisms, privacy-preserving by design; tempo quarters to years; vehicle: Tapir, Data Collaboration.

fauler.me homepage, July 2026

Between the research system that produces validated knowledge and the practice system that could realise it there is no functioning feedback loop. Research studies organisations retrospectively and publishes; practitioners intervene without data on whether interventions work. The 17-year lag is not caused by slow readers. It is caused by missing infrastructure.

The research loop is that infrastructure: a boundary organisation whose boundary object is a privacy-preserving measurement platform. Institutions share knowledge, not data; raw data stays on-premises, only aggregated insights travel. Every participating organisation strengthens the evidence for all, which is a data network effect, and the Plural Constitution is what keeps that surplus with the players. See Data Collaboration.

data-collaboration, plural-constitution, operating-system-loop

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