I wanted to get some feedback from the readers of the blog (and other places) on what the distinction is between a researcher and a scholar. My first thought is that a researcher conducts research, but a scholar is one who conducts scholarship. Sadly, that may not be so simple a distinction. The “quick and dirty” place for such answers is, of course, Dictionary.com. There we find:
–noun
1. diligent and systematic inquiry or investigation into a subject in order to discover or revise facts, theories, applications,etc.: recent research in medicine.
2. a particular instance or piece of research.
noun
1. learning; knowledge acquired by study; the academic attainments of a scholar.
Upon further clickage, a scholar is defined as
“a learned or erudite person, especially one who has profoundknowledge of a particular subject.”
Interestingly, there is no such distinction in definitions for Researcher vs Research.
If we look at what defines the two is the distinction one more of the approach used? Is it that a “researcher” follows a “systematic approach” to gathering new information–a methodology, if you will, while a scholar may not follow such a rigorously defined structure? It that is the case, I would as that you answer a few questions: researcher of scholar?