Should we keep [research]?

Question

It's currently used on two questions only, and has no tag wiki.

The purpose seems to be for questions asking for scientific studies as answers.

This seems to be a bit of a meta-tag, a tag not about the question, just about what the answer should be. Compare to the old [beginner] tag on SO, it's really just saying "be nice in your answers". This tag seems to just say "make sure to cite studies in your answers".

In addition, a kind of general rule of thumb for all of SE is "cite reputable sources". Scientific studies are general components of good answers in that kind of area anyway.

Thoughts? Should we burninate?

Answer 1

Yes, it's a good tag, but we might want to consider renaming it.

Let me try to say my views here.

This is definitely a useful tag, if you're inquiring specifically for scientific studies. It's not quite as clear-cut on the current two questions though.

Are there studies that have determined the main reasons people stop being vegetarian?:

This fits better than the other IMO, as the last sentence reads "Are there studies [...]", but the rest could be clarified. This probably belongs here, but I don't think research is the best name for it in light of this. Maybe studies or scientific-research?

What are the personality traits of those most and least likely to go vegetarian?:

This one is actually really broad/opinion based IMO (it's a fine line in this case). I like what @Zanna said:

I think if would be very difficult for studies to account for differences between cultures (the study itself unavoidably emerges from/is produced by some culture) but answers could summarise studies from different areas so I think this question is probably answerable

TL;DR: answers are gonna be really big and a summary of a bunch of studies, but the question is answerable.

(thus I haven't voted to close)

Also, I'm not sure the tag is entirely needed, because any answer that doesn't cite sources is a Bad Answer™ and probably entirely based off of personal experience.

TL;DR: Keep it, though maybe rename it, and clarify its usage in the tag wiki.

Answer 2

If I remember correctly, I created the tag, so, I'm biased :)

I think it's a good tag. It's a tag for questions along the lines of

"Is there any research evidence for..."

This is not all our questions... or at least, I hope it won't be. I didn't think this site was meant to be completely science-based. I teach science, but I didn't become a vegan for scientific reasons...

I'm not sure the tag is entirely needed, because any answer that doesn't cite sources is a Bad Answer™ and probably entirely based off of personal experience.

Personal experience is totally a valid source of knowledge.

Besides, tags are for questions, not answers. Answers may usefully cite research, responding to questions that are not asking about research. Use the tag when asking about research. Cite sources whenever you have useful sources to cite.