inquiry letter was also sent to them. In all, 445 

 chairmen were contacted, from a variety of 

 disciplines and all 92 Carnegie Research Un- 

 iversities. Together with the presidents and 

 vice presidents, they represent a very con- 

 siderable sampling of the research management 

 at U.S. universities. 



In the industry sector, the presidents of a 

 group of major corporations were contacted. 

 These corporations account for about one-half 

 of company-funded R&D spending in the United 

 States. The companies selected were chosen to 

 obtain adequate coverage of those industries in 

 which basic research plays a significant role. 

 Several companies were selected from each of 

 the major industries performing basic research. 

 From industries devoting fewer resources to 

 basic research, only one company was selected. 



Letters were also sent to all 100 members of 

 the NSF Industrial Panel on Science and 

 Technology. These panelists were originally 

 selected to represent the large, medium, and 

 small firms doing research in each major 

 industry, such as electronics, aerospace, or 

 instruments. Typically, the top R&D official 

 within a company is the panel member. This 

 means that most members are vice-presidents 

 for research or directors of research; in some 

 cases where research is conducted by a research 

 subsidiary, the panel member is the president of 

 the research organization. The companies 

 represented on the NSF Industrial Panel 

 together account for nearly two-thirds of all 

 industrial R&D spending. 



In the Government sector, all Federal agen- 

 cies with major scientific research efforts 5 were 

 covered. Directors of selected intramural 

 Federal laboratories and the directors of all 

 Federally Funded Research and Development 

 Centers (FFRDC's) were contacted. Letters were 



also sent to the highest ranking officials of 

 Federal agencies dealing with science and 

 technology. The Federal intramural 

 laboratories were selected to represent the 

 spectrum of research activity of the parent 

 agency. Almost all conduct basic research; most 

 do applied research or development as well. 



Similarly, in the case of the independent 

 research institutes, letters were sent to the 

 presidents or directors of laboratories from 45 

 of the institutes that were listed as being the 

 largest in terms of research and development 

 expenditures in 1973. Together they accounted 

 for 78 percent of all research and development 

 expenditures in such institutes. 6 



The scope of this study, therefore, was quite 

 broad. Table 2-1 shows the number of letters 

 sent as well as the number of responses, by 

 sector and by subgroup of respondents within 

 each sector. The inquiry was designed so as to 

 get a response from each sector in which science 

 or engineering is done. At the same time, it 

 limited the number of "issues" to two, in order to 

 obtain a sense of priority and urgency. 



By choice an open question was asked, in 

 place of a structured questionnaire suitable for 

 quantitative statistical analysis. This method 

 allowed the research community to state their 

 concerns in their own words. While it may be 

 desirable to do a more quantitative study later, 

 this kind of study is most suitable for an initial 

 exploration of their opinions. 



RESPONSE TO THE INQUIRY LETTER 



The rate of response to the inquiry letter was 

 gratifyingly high. This can be seen from Table 

 2-1, which shows the number of letters sent for 

 each sector, the number of responses received, 



Bused on Investigative Report on "Utilization of Federal 

 Laboratories", which is Part 7 of Agriculture-Environ- 

 mental and Consumer Protection Appropriations for i:)7'i 

 Hearings, U.S. House of Representatives. Committee on 

 Appropriations, Subcommittee on Agriculture-Environ 

 mental and Consumer Protection, 93rd Congress, 2d 

 Session. 19 I 



'' This figure was obtained from the authors of RfrD 

 Activities of Independent Nonprofit Institutions, 1973; NSF 

 75-308. As the discussion below indicates, not all of these 45 

 institutes were still in existence at the time of the letter 

 inquirj . 



24 THE INQUIRY TO THE RESEARCH COMMUNITY 



