SECTION 2. SUMMARY OF MEMORANDA ON THE RESEARCH OF 

 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES 



By Charles H. Judd 



Introduction 



The materials for this report were secured from a 

 number of the bureaus in the executive departments 

 of the Federal Government and from several of the 

 independent agencies of the Government. In each case 

 some representative designated by a Federal depart- 

 ment, bureau, or agency prepared a statement with 

 regard to the types of research in which the particu- 

 lar bureau or agency is engaged, the problems en- 

 countered in conducting research, and the lines along 

 which conditions for research may in the judgment 

 of the writer of the statement be improved. In most 

 cases some member of the staff of this inquiry had in- 

 terviews with the representatives of the bureaus or 

 agencies supplying statements and in this way ob- 

 tained information and suggestions supplementing the 

 written statements. 



In addition to the materials collected from govern- 

 mental agencies which will be summai'ized in this re- 

 port, there were prepared as a basis for a more com- 

 plete treatment of social-science research in the Gov- 

 ernment three special reports dealing with the follow- 

 ing subjects: The Legislative Brancli of Government 

 and Research; the Bureau of the Census; the Office 

 of Education and Research. The last mentioned of 

 these reports was prepared for the joint use of the 

 Advisory Committee on Education and the Science 

 Committee of the National Resources Committee. 

 These three special reports were prepared by mem- 

 bers of the staff of this inquiry. They treat of research 

 activities and of problems relating to research more 

 fully than do the statements secured directly from 

 governmental agencies. They may be regarded as in- 

 tensive studies of particular situations. Reference 

 will be made in the course of this report to some of 

 the findings of these intensive studies, but no effort 

 will be made here to cover the ground which those 

 reports cover. For the purposes of the final report of 

 the Science Committee the present summary of state- 

 ments from governmental agencies is to be recognized 

 as only one of four documents dealing with social- 

 science research. 



The extent to which there has been increased em- 

 phasis on the social sciences in the Federal Govern- 

 ment in recent years is shown by table I, which was 

 supplied by the Civil Service Commission. 



Table I. — Comparative distribution of permanent full-time, 

 temporary, part-time, vacant, and occupied positions in tlie 

 departmental service in the District of Columbia, subject to 

 the Classification Act of 1923, and allocated to the professional 

 and scientific service May 15, 1031, and Dec. 1, 1937 ' 



Group 



EcoDomics, statistics, and political and social 



science 



Education 



Antliiopology and museum history 



Agricultural and biological science 



Physical science 



Medical science.. 



Dental science 



Veterinary science 



Engineering and drafting 



Law. 



Patent examining 



Art -- 



Library science _. 



Personnel research and examining.. 



All groups 



May 16, 1931 



Num- 

 ber 



683 

 110 



26 



622 



1,175 



250 



H 



45 



2,230 



1,515 



772 



7 



320 



45 



Per- 

 cent 



8.75 



1.41 



.33 



7.96 



15.05 



3.20 



.10 



.68 



28.56 



19.40 



9.89 



.09 



4.10 



.68 



7, 808 100. 00 



Dec. 1, 1937 



Num- 

 ber 



2,166 



165 



39 



871 



1,162 



311 



8 



51 



3,113 



3,149 



791 



17 



581 



63 



12, 477 



Pet- 

 cent 



17.28 



1.32 



.31 



6.93 



9.31 



2.49 



.06 



.41 



24.96 



25.24 



6.34 



.14 



4.66 



.51 



100.00 



' This table represents a count of the positions under the ClasslOcation Act of 1923, 

 recorded in the files of the Personnel Classification Division, U. S. Civil Service 

 Commission. It does not include positions in agencies not under the Classification 

 Act, nor positions in the field service. 



The figures reported in table I do not include social 

 scientists who are in the employ of the Government 

 but are not subject to the Civil Service Classification 

 Act of 1923. Many emergency agencies, notably the 

 large agencies, the Public Works Administration and 

 the Works Progress Administration, have social scien- 

 tists in their employed personnel who are not included 

 in table I. 



The materials collected from the Federal agencies 

 will not be reviewed in this report with a view to 

 presenting unything like an exhaustive list of the par- 

 ticular research projects on which work is being done. 

 Certain typical research undertakings will be cited by 

 title or will be described very briefly, and the prob- 

 lems on which Federal agencies make comments will 

 be reported for the purpose of showing the scope and 

 character of social-science research in the Federal Gov- 

 erimient and for the purpose of drawing attention to 

 the problems which such research encounters. 



A study of all the statements received from Federal 

 agencies leads to the following generalizations. 



Scope of Statistical Data 



The fundamental statistical data on which the social 

 sci&nces dei>end are in general, national in scope. The 



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