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What is your theorist persona? Take our quiz and find out!

Background

Biologists rarely receive training on how to frame theoretical research questions. This is a critical gap both for those conducting theoretical research as well as for anyone reading theoretical research (and needing to evaluate when theory has been successful).

We developed a guide to fill this gap by presenting six verbal framings for theoretical models in biology. These correspond to different personas one might adopt as a theorist.

Here is a template for anyone looking to 'try on' different personas in order to get clear on their specific theoretical research question.

Read more in our paper.

The Six Personas

Orange circle with a bullhorn icon

​​ ​​the ADVOCATE: People should think more about this mechanism and its possible effects!


Green circle with a speech bubble icon

​​ ​the EXPLAINER: I have a way to explain a pattern that no one has considered yet.


Red circle with an icon showing two arrows colliding

​​ ​the INSTIGATOR: I want to push two ideas against each other and see what happens.


Yellow circle with an icon of two hands shaking

​​ ​the MEDIATOR: I notice a conflict in the literature and I have an idea for how it can be resolved.


Blue circle with an icon showing a speech bubble with an X and a second bubble with a checkmark

​​ the SEMANTICIAN: I think we need some more clarity about what we really mean when we talk about this mechanism.


Purple circle with an icon showing a screwdriver and a wrench

​​ the TINKERER: I want to learn more about how this mechanism/pattern pair works.


ESA 2024 poster

See our poster from the 2024 Ecological Society of America meeting below.

Scientific poster about using theorist personas