A researcher conducts a theoretical study of terrorist motivations, consulting the work of other major researchers in the field. The research is published in two separate academic journals. This researcher's primary goal most likely is to:

Advance Scientific Knowledge.

Explanation:

In recent times science is about understanding the world, but it's a process rather than a body of knowledge. Scientific knowledge is what we learn from the scientific process, which involves experimenting and collecting data.

Research from scientific processes is explained as the collecting of data to investigate and explain a phenomenon. The idea of science is that you can only learn about a phenomenon in a reliable and accurate way through collecting empirical data. The scientific process is designed to reduce human bias as much as possible, and make our conclusions as accurate as they can be.

they had freedom from the government and from the affairs