ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the question of metaphorical moves in specific studies of research policy.1 Among the various types of policy inquiry, formal studies of research policy seem to be bound up in a hermeneutic circle: the expertise they call upon takes part in the domain of science it defines. This may be observed mutatis mutandis for other forms of social inquiry. However, the critical question of the reflexive implication of scientific expertise – its status, form and content – in research policy studies is rarely addressed on the basis of particular cases, let alone answered in actual detail. The expression enclosed within single quotes in the title indicates this situation of inquiry. Puzzling as it may appear, the situation had already been pointed out in vivid terms by Bruno Latour and Steven Woolgar in their initial laboratory study (Latour and Woolgar 1979: 17-18).
