Almost all research has ulterior motives in this sense, particularly government-funded research. You want to guide policy so you collect information on the impa

Almost all research has ulterior motives in this sense, particularly government-funded research. You want to guide policy so you collect information on the impact of that policy, existing or proposed. The alternative is to make policy in the absence of data. Research guided this way is problematic only if it amounts to cherry-picking of facts, studying only the benefits or costs to the exclusion of the other.