The cluster of thingspace you're referring to can properly be called researchers (probably).

Just the same, if that were how the term were typically used -- for cases where the deep theoretical, high-inferential-distance understanding is vital for core job functions -- I would not feel the need to raise the point I did.

Rather, it's because people tend to inflate their own job descriptions, and my frequent observation of anyone working in lab-like environments being classified as a "researcher" or "doing research", regardless of how small the intellectual component of their contribution is, that I feel the need to point out the possible mis-labeling.

(A high-profile example of this mistake is Freeman Dyson's criticism of climate scientists for being too lazy to do the hard work of collecting data in extreme conditions, which is itself not the scientific component of the work. Start from:"It is much easier for a scientist to sit in an air-conditioned building..." )