Assuming my model of how academia works is correct (can someone comment on this?), persuading grantmakers could be a better use of time than trying to persuade researchers directly for a few reasons:
There are probably many researchers for each grantmaker, so personal communication with individual grantmakers gives greater leverage.
Grantmakers probably have less personal investment in the research they judge, which would mean less motivated cognition to go through with the research.
Grantmakers are more likely to be interested in what will be beneficial for society as a whole, whereas individual researchers may be more more motivated by gaining status or solving problems for their own sake.
More thoughts on this:
Assuming my model of how academia works is correct (can someone comment on this?), persuading grantmakers could be a better use of time than trying to persuade researchers directly for a few reasons:
There are probably many researchers for each grantmaker, so personal communication with individual grantmakers gives greater leverage.
Grantmakers probably have less personal investment in the research they judge, which would mean less motivated cognition to go through with the research.
Grantmakers are more likely to be interested in what will be beneficial for society as a whole, whereas individual researchers may be more more motivated by gaining status or solving problems for their own sake.