to the conduct of effective social science re- 

 search. An official of the agency states: 



These regulations, when taken together with the 

 current government-wide drive to reduce paper- 

 work burdens on the public and private indus- 

 try, are so onerous as to be an effective barrier 

 to the performance of many social-science re- 

 search projects. Surveys of a properly drawn 

 sample population are, in fact, among the most 

 effective means of reducing paperwork bur- 

 dens, when contrasted with typical government 

 requests for information from an entire popula- 

 tion. 



5. There has been a considerable increase in 

 basic research in universities and not nearly so 

 much in industry. 



• Performance of basic research by universi- 

 ties increased 25 fold (in current dollars) 

 during the period 1953-1977; during the 

 same period, performance of basic re- 

 search by industry increased only 5 fold. 



• Federal support of basic research in uni- 

 versities totaled $1,290 million (current 

 dollars) in 1977. This amounted to 47 per- 

 cent of total Federal obligations for basic 

 research ($2,755 million) in 1977. 



• Conduct of basic research by industry 

 reached a peak of over $800 million (con- 

 stant 1972 dollars) in 1966; it has been de- 

 clining since then, reaching a level of 

 about $550 million (constant 1972 dollars) 

 for the period 1975-1977. 



• Federal support of basic research in indus- 

 try totaled $201 million (current dollars) in 

 1977. This represented 7.3 percent of total 

 Federal obligations for basic research 

 ($2,755 million) in 1977. 



6. The changes in funding of basic research by 

 the Federal Government have varied considerably 

 among the fields of science. 



• Significant increases (in current dollars) 

 occurred in the 1968-1977 period in Feder- 

 al support of basic research in the life sci- 

 ences (73.9 percent), environmental sci- 

 ences (98.0 percent), engineering (71.8 

 percent), and social sciences (67.2 per- 

 cent). Support of basic research increased 

 34.6 percent in the physical sciences and 

 17.9 percent in mathematics and computer 

 sciences. Support for psychology, treated 

 as a field separate from both the life and 

 social sciences, decreased by 3.6 percent 

 in this period. 



7. There are several approaches to the manage- 

 ment of basic research and, as might be expected, 

 there are many problems in the management of 

 basic research. 



• The factor affecting the quality of basic 

 research projects that was cited most fre- 

 quently and considered most important 

 was the vision and leadership of the senior 

 officials who plan and direct the work. 



• Unique management services are provided 

 by university consortia. Such management 

 and governing services, which have per- 

 sonnel who understand basic research and 

 which can call upon the most capable sci- 

 entists to help plan and direct the pro- 

 grams in the laboratories, are considered a 

 valuable national asset. 



• Many officials believe that clarification of 

 the use of the procurement contract, as- 

 sistance contract, cooperative agreement, 

 and grant would reduce confusion in the 

 research community. 



• Constraints of Civil Service regulations 

 also hinder the management of research in 

 some agencies. 



8. Agency perceptions of "coordination" in- 

 clude connotations of collaboration, correlation, 

 and evaluation. Some agencies are apprehensive 

 about efforts at coordination that might introduce 

 elements of externa] direction or control. 



• On the whole, there appears to be a sur- 

 prising degree of coordination, especially 

 with respect to support and conduct of 

 basic and applied research. This coordina- 

 tion is achieved by both formal and infor- 

 mal means, the latter being particularly 

 important. 



9. Most agencies, in listing priorities and gap 

 areas in their research agendas, frequently men- 

 tion the need for basic research in the traditional 

 scientific disciplines. 



• Thus it is not surprising to see the same 

 disciplines occurring in the priority lists of 

 a number of agencies. Eight or more agen- 

 cies designate subfields of the materials 

 sciences, the environmental sciences, food 

 and nutrition research, physics, chemistry, 

 mathematical and computer sciences, and 

 the life sciences as deserving greater at- 

 tention. 



Problems and Issues 



Many agencies identified specific problems and 

 issues facing the scientific community that may 

 need increased attention. The following quotations 

 from agency submissions are illustrative. 



• Agriculture: ... A complete understanding 

 of the nature of bacterial resistance to anti- 



XVI 



