0.3 Knowledge for governance: social science perspectives on science  (Page 7/10)

In view of Merriam’s interest in planning as a tool for governance, it was inevitable that the resulting Relation of the Federal Government to Research should have emphasized both natural and social science. This was the first official government report to view the entire system of science as a potentially significant tool for federal governance. It was also the first to recognize the importance of establishing stronger links between the federal scientific enterprise and non-government scientific research.

The report was groundbreaking. Produced under the auspices of a committee made up largely of social scientists, it broadly defined what qualified as research. It also took historic steps toward formulating a national research policy in which the federal government would assume some measure of responsibility for research outside of government in both the natural and social sciences. Previously, the federal government (with the single exception of agricultural research in the land grant colleges created by the Morrill Act of 1862, and the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics) had provided no financial support for research in universities.

Relation of the Federal Government to Research consists of a sixteen-page Report of the Science Committee and more than two hundred pages of “Supporting Studies,” National Resources Committee, op. cit . many based on written questionnaires and interviews with over fifty federal bureaus involved in natural and social science research. These studies include over fifty pages on “The Legislative Branch and Research,” and thirty pages on “Research in American Universities and Colleges.” In particular, the report recognized the vital importance of statistical data collected by various federal bureaus to social science research in academia. This emphasis implicitly recognized the pivotal importance to academic social science of the innovative work of Merriam and his colleagues in Chicago during the 1920s.

From the perspective of the twenty-first century, some of the more pertinent findings are these:

• Competition for research workers and the demand for large funds to support research have created a situation which calls for better coordination of the research facilities of the Nation than now exists.
• The recruiting, placement, and in-service training of research workers in the Government are, under present conditions, less satisfactory than they might be.
• The solution of the problems of the utilization of the research facilities of the country as aids to research in the Government is rendered readily possible by the existence of a number of national councils made up of the scientific specialists in the major lines of research.
• It seems feasible to make more extended use than at present of the plan of entering into contracts with national research organizations to take charge or research projects.
• International cooperation in scientific research now exists on a large scale. It could be encouraged to the great advantage of the Nation if the Federal Government would adopt the practice which is common among the Governments of other nations of according official recognition and, wherever necessary, financial support to international gatherings of scientists.