Public RAND website articles - are they really trustworthy?

[FancyDarcy]

I've recently discovered the RAND website and the wonders within, however I'm a bit wary of what seems to be a source of infinite knowledge. How trustworthy are the articles and PDFs on RAND, really? There seem to be a lot of PDF articles of RAND studies, reports and news on the website and they look quite interesting in their very broad range of subjects, but should I really trust them? I mean I'm not writing a scientific research paper or anything, in fact I'm just using it for personal research (basically just for fun) so it doesn't have to be 100%.

Thanks...

[Ace Pace]

RAND is generally respectable, while you may find here and there papers that are contracted elsewhere, they're not heavily partisan in the U.S. sense and they will provide you with good information.

[Simon_Jester]

The RAND corporation has been around for, oh, fifty or sixty years, something like that. They do a lot of research (in the scholarly paper sense) for a lot of people, and being able to last that long usually means having a solid reputation. USUALLY.

Not always, obviously.

[Alyrium Denryle]

I've recently discovered the RAND website and the wonders within, however I'm a bit wary of what seems to be a source of infinite knowledge. How trustworthy are the articles and PDFs on RAND, really? There seem to be a lot of PDF articles of RAND studies, reports and news on the website and they look quite interesting in their very broad range of subjects, but should I really trust them? I mean I'm not writing a scientific research paper or anything, in fact I'm just using it for personal research (basically just for fun) so it doesn't have to be 100%.

Thanks...

Their reputation is pretty damn good. They are actually non-partisan and objective in their analysis.

[FancyDarcy]

The RAND corporation has been around for, oh, fifty or sixty years, something like that. They do a lot of research (in the scholarly paper sense) for a lot of people, and being able to last that long usually means having a solid reputation. USUALLY.

Not always, obviously.

Hmm. I've been reading some of their public "blog-like" posts and I wonder how much effort goes into those. Other than that, their research on common topics seems well thought out and factual but then again I don't
really have a clue whether it's good quality or not.. haha...

I have another question: how useful is the information in everyday situations? Is the information supposed to be taken at face value, or just a hypothetical; a template for a specific way of thinking over a certain topic?

[Simon_Jester]

The RAND corporation has been around for, oh, fifty or sixty years, something like that. They do a lot of research (in the scholarly paper sense) for a lot of people, and being able to last that long usually means having a solid reputation. USUALLY.

Not always, obviously.

Hmm. I've been reading some of their public "blog-like" posts and I wonder how much effort goes into those. Other than that, their research on common topics seems well thought out and factual but then again I don't
really have a clue whether it's good quality or not.. haha...

All any given person can really hope for from a reference is that reading it will reduce their ignorance, not increase it. RAND Corporation studies will probably have the desired effect for you.

I have another question: how useful is the information in everyday situations? Is the information supposed to be taken at face value, or just a hypothetical; a template for a specific way of thinking over a certain topic?

Uh... it probably depends? I mean, they're a corporation that does studies on whatever people commission them to do. There's not going to be a single answer to such a broad, vague question.