20 



National Resources Committee 



particular researches. The purpose is to consider what may 

 be descrihcil as the admiiiistiative conditions under which re- 

 search can be most advantageously stimulated and carried on. 

 The question will bo pointedly raised what researches should 

 the Federal Government undertake and what researches should 

 be left to nongovernmental agencies. 



The definition of research which is adopted for this inquiry 

 is broad. It covers the collection as well as the interpreta- 

 tion of data. The aim will be to find what are the best condi- 

 tions for the collection of scientific findings and the proper 

 treatment of these findings after collection. The range of 

 research which will be considered will be extensive enough 

 to cover historical and documentary inquiries as well as in 

 vestigations in the natural and social sciences. Such an 

 agency as the Congressional Library will be included as well 

 as the bureaus of the Department of Agriculture, the Bureau 

 of the Census, and the Bureau of Standards. 



Those to whom requests for information are addressed are 

 asked to provide the subcommittee with the fullest possible 

 account of tie researches now under way ; researches which 

 are desir.nMe as governmental projects but are now for some 

 reason not being carried on ; methods of organizing research 

 which are most successful ; and methods that seem to he more 

 promising than those now being followed. 



Tlie subcommittee received full cooperation from all 

 the officers of the Goremment and from the other per- 

 sons consulted. The memoranda received are on file 

 with the National Resources Committee and present 

 in concrete detail accounts of typical research activities 



of governmental agencies. Acknowledgment of the in- 

 debtedness of the subcommittee to those wlio gave it 

 assistance has been made and is here repeated. 



The Science Committee met on February 5 and 6, 

 April 9 and 10, and June 4 and 5, 1938, and considered 

 at each meeting the tentative reports which had been 

 prepared bj' the subcommittee. 



At the meeting of June 4 and 5, the Science Com- 

 mittee voted to recommend to the Advisory Committee 

 the publication of this report and the following sup- 

 porting documents: 



A summar.v of the memoranda collected from Federal agen- 

 cies engaged in re.searches in the natural sciences and in 

 technology. 



A summary of the memoranda collected from Federal agen- 

 cies engaged in researches in the social sciences. 



A report on the Budget items allotted to research by E. K. 

 Gray. 



A report on investigations sponsored by Congress and State 

 legislatures by W. F. Willoughby. 



A report on researches in the universities by R. 11. Hughes. 



A report on the Bureau of the Census by S. A. Stouffer. 



A report on the Library of Congress by M. A. Roberts. 



A report on the Office of Education. (This report is being 

 published by the Advisory Committee on Education. It was 

 prepared for the joint use of the Science Committee and the 

 Advisory Committee on Education.) 



