Scorekeeping, by whom?

A similar case can be made regarding preservation (and was, here: http://bourgeononline.com/?p=1699).

Overall the priority in funding art is (appropriately) funding art - not art writing, or art research. If we are to expand administrative focus in the arts sector (toward research, or preservation) we best be prepared to contract somewhere else. What can we now do without that we had to have a generation ago?

Yes, our field would benefit in the future from the collection and development of real data. Not to kitchen sink with this comment, but the Dana/Hopkins Arts Learning and the Brain proceedings (http://www.dana.org/media/detail.aspx?id=24012) contain few conclusions other than just such a call.

The problem isn't just a lack of think tank and data collection infrastructure or funding. We don't have a culture of research in the arts/expressive lives community. We tend to feel the coupling of expression and rigorous assessment are incompatible. Check out this article from the January Atlantic to get an idea of what could be achieved if we started to collect data in a systematic way: http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/201001/good-teachingCan