academic:principal-investigator

The principal investigator leads a funded research study. This person sets the program's direction and shapes its design. Working from a grant supplied by the funder and a standing scientific question, the investigator writes the research plan, sets its specific aims, and divides the budget. That plan passes to experimenters who gather the data, to analysts and statisticians who build the findings, and to writers who draft the manuscript. What the investigator adds is the direction the whole study follows.