258 



certain results or consequences * * *." For instance they recom- 

 mended research on (summarized) : 



Group interaction : How Peace Corps volunteers as individuals and in a group 

 interact or work with individuals of anotlier culture. 



Group dynamics : The development of successful leadership while operating 

 under conditions of severe stress from internal or external factors. 



Conununications: Meaningful transference of an idea between persons with 

 diverse cultural backgrounds. 



Decisionmaking : What are the best procedures for successful decisionmaking, 

 and who should participate? What problems tend to arise when individuals with 

 unlike cultural backgrounds are involved in decisionmaking, and how can the 

 problems be anticipated and avoided or solved? 



Cultural change : How can the volunteer introduce cultural change? " 



These recommenda;t.ions seem not to have been lieeded by the Peace 

 Corps itself; there was virtually no reference made in the Peace Corps 

 presentation materials to the need for extensive research. The only 

 reference, made in passinjr, related to the potential tasks of private 

 agencies which might be invited to undertake such programs. In dis- 

 cussing the proposed functions of educational institutions which 

 might contribute to tlie development of training programs, research 

 was not mentioned.'* The only Peace Corps reference to the need for 

 research in hearings before the Congress came when Mr. Shriver was 

 testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on his 

 nomination. In response to a question by Senator Wayne Morse, 

 Shriver stated that while the Peace Corps felt a research program was 

 needed, and was receiving suggestions about it from the Colorado 

 group, the National Research Foundation, the American Psychological 

 Association, and the Brookings Institution and the Princeton Educa- 

 tional Testing Service, "* * * we have not resolved now exactly how 

 that evaluation of that research should be carried out." "^ 



In sum, there was no request from the Peace Corps in 1961, and no 

 provision in the 1961 legislation, for a program of research. 



There were only two other instances in Congress when the need for 

 research was made explicit. The first came from Dr. Albertson, in his 

 ])rinted testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.**" 

 And the second came from some Republican Members of Congress, 

 who, while not calling for authorization of a research program, wanted 

 to wait to evaluate the first year's experimental program before enact- 

 ing permanent legislation. 



The Peace Corps expenditures for research studies in fiscal years 

 1962 and 1963 were relatively small: $111,689 and $175,385, respec- 

 tively. In the fiscal year 1964, the agency spent $554,857 on reseaix;h and 

 evaluation studies. In an apparent effort to win congressional ap- 

 proval for a substantially expanded program of research, the Peace 

 Corps in 1965 asked the Congress for $1,400,000 which Sargent Shriver 

 justified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in terms of 

 such elements of program improvement as better recruiting and im- 

 ]:)roved preventive health care for volunteers and country represent- 

 atives.^^ The Congress denied this request, holding that in relevant 



" Ibid., pp. 142-143. 



IS Peace Corps. Presentation of fiscal year 1962 program to U.S. Congres.s, op. clt., 

 pp. 14, 16. 



™ Senate. "Nomination of Robert Sargent Shriver, Jr., to be Director of the Peace Corps," 

 Hearings. * * * op. clt., p. 33. 



so The Peace Corps, "Hearings Before the • ♦ • on S. 2000," op. clt., p. 142. 



51 U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, To Amend the Peace Corps 

 Act, Hearings Before the ♦ • ♦ on S. 1368, A Bill To Amend Further the Peace Corps 

 Act, as Amended, Apr. 26, 1965, 89th Cong., 1st sess. (Washington, U.S. Government 

 Printing Office, 1965), p. 51. 



