research funding is harder to obtain there is a 

 danger that these pressures will cause potentially 

 productive scientists to opt for "easier" but less 

 meaningful lines of research that do not require 

 government sponsorship. 



We emphasize again that many of the changes 

 that have occurred during the past few years are 

 individually meritorious. However, their 

 cumulative effect is to divert substantial sumsout 

 of the doing of research and into its administra- 

 tion. There is also a disturbing tendency to 

 promulgate tight regulations with broad 

 applicability to take care of situations that have 

 been identified as occurring in a few cases. In 

 other situations the ills that are sought to be 

 corrected may be more imagined than real. We 

 believe that there is an urgent need for evaluation 

 of the cumulative effect of federal regulations and 

 accountability requirements vis a vis research, 

 and upon the cost-effectiveness of individual 

 regulations. 



This view goes beyond the issue of account- 

 ability to that of Federal regulations in general. 

 For this reason, it sounds much like the industry 

 responses. Like them it emphasizes the idea that 

 individual regulations may be good or at least 

 well intended, while their actual cumulative 

 effect is to restrict the freedom of research 

 severely and to add greatly to its cost. 



A view of this problem from the departmental 

 level was provided by Walter Dick, Leader of 

 the Industrial Design and Development 

 Program at Florida State University, 

 Tallahassee. 



We have essentially arrived at the point at which 

 only those project centers which can afford, 

 through multiple project funding, to hire a full 

 time business administrator, can survive in a 

 university environment. There are now so many 

 rules and regulations and forms to fill out which 

 are required both by funding agencies as well as 

 the State of Florida and the state university 

 system, that it is almost impossible for an 

 individual researcher to carry out his normal 

 responsibilities and also be able to cope with all 

 the requirements placed on him as a project 

 executive-paper shuffler. . . Several of our 

 faculty members have publicly stated that they 



will not seek external support because of this 

 situation. 



SUMMARY 



All of the research sectors reported that they 

 felt a pressure to do short-term, targeted, and 

 applied research rather than long-term and 

 basic research. This pressure was attributed in 

 part to the economic situation, but largely to 

 decisions by the State and Federal 

 Governments. A great many respondents 

 thought that this trend would not only have the 

 effect of damaging the Nation's efforts in basic 

 research, but ultimately would also damage its 

 technological development, and even its posi- 

 tion of world leadership. 



The remedies that were offered were relative- 

 ly straightforward and, in broad terms, were the 

 same in all the sectors: fund more basic 

 research, give researchers more freedom in their 

 choice of projects, bring applied and basic 

 research into better balance. The specific 

 suggestions were mostly variations on these 

 themes. 



For example, it was stated that NSF has 

 moved away from its commitment to basic 

 research, as is evidenced by its research 

 application programs, and that such programs 

 should be abandoned. Some respondents felt 

 that the public and government should have 

 brought to their attention the difference 

 between basic research, on the one hand, and 

 applied research and development, on the other. 

 Thus they might better understand the special 

 role of basic research, and the need for suppor- 

 ting it. Some respondents, both from univer- 

 sities and industry, suggested that the univer- 

 sities are the best place for basic research, while 

 applied research and development should be the 

 special responsibility of industry. Industry 

 respondents sometimes asked for tax write-oft 

 and other dollar incentives that would alleviate 

 the expense of basic research. The reasoning 

 was that such research carries a high risk. It is 

 not guaranteed to benefit the company that 



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FREEDOM IN THE RESEARCH SYSTEM 



