RESEARCH RIPPLES GOVERNMENT FARMS OUT MORE STUDIES; SOME REPORTS DRAW CRITICISM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP73-00475R000102100001-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 18, 2013
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: December 8, 1965
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2013/12/18: CIA-RDP73-00475R000102100001-3
(Research Ripples
. Government Farms Out
!
More Studies; Some
Reports Draw Criticism
Outside Work Can Be Better,
DEC 8 1965
. A companion trerrys sisn-accelerating: An
accent on research in, the' social and related
sciencies, from economics and soeiology to
psychology and anthropology. although the
physical sciences still take most. of the, Gov-
ernment's research dollar. This new emphasis
' on social science research grows', lamely . out
?
of the proliferation of Great, Society pro-
grams. - civil rights or antipoverty or job
retraining or education aid - that rely on
research to lay their foundations A.? check
on progress. "Demand for social research has
grown out of programs designed lo meet so-
cial needs," notes Herbert Striner, director of
the W. E. Upjohn Institute for Employment
Cheaper, Officials 'Calm; I Research.
Social Sciences Accented
?????Xemosmissin
$95,000 for the Self-Evident
? By EDWARD A. BEHR
By e WALL. STREET JOURNAL, Staff Reporter
WASHINGTON - The Labor Department
soon will hand out a $45,000 contract,, probably
tcraThniVer-SilY, fora - "thorough study of pub-
lic knowledge and attitudes toward unem-
ployment. .insurance." An underling purpose,
-qulte-franklY-Stated,-Is to develop ammunition
to help rebut criticism of the program, includ-
ing articles published in the Reader's Digest.
?
. . .
?At-Pentegmt-reqtrest,. the private Bureau
of Social Science Research here is embarked
on a study project to determine how social
science research (such as that done by the
bureau) yi_12ging-tis.ed_tp,m:akingyentagon and
? foreign-policy decision2.
---Tt17t- first instance, it will be a year be-
ifore results come in, and even then follow-up
research may be proposed. But in the second
case, the resarch into research, tentative
conclusions are being reached: The reports
? themselves often make little?direct impression
.? on defense and foreign policy-makers, some-
times being dismissed as "garbage." The re-
:searchers console themselves with the knowl-
edge that the ideas broached do "percolate
around" in official minds, with the help of
news stories, and may pop up in all sorts
of situations.
"More Time to Think"
These are ripples in a current Washington
tide: "A trend toward farming_put,..more-of
tha GoVannient's-resetirCh7s-itidy work to out-
siders-notably to universities and noniiiiifit
re?uibtitfita Uncla?Saitit'i
dollar-re'searenheeds have grown so great,
its said, that Federal ,personnel just can't'
handle so much of the load; moreover,:an 01)-
0 jective outside analysis may often be needed
;for evaluation .of Government programs and
determination of national needs. Farmedout
research, officials say, can be faster, cheaper
"Ind-better. Adds Labor Secretary Wins: "We
are trying to ge,t the ideas of those who have
Mpre,tifits.t0 thfhk_tha.we ? ?
This demand' is naturally leading the Gov-
:e14nment into far foggier research fields than
the physical sciences. The social: sciesce
projects undertaken may be more open to
challenge, the results much less tangible. So
'far, officials do credit Government-sponsored
!private studies with }laving helped In form:
rlating the program to get dropouts b;u:k in
..school and the U.S. drive for international
monetary reform. But end-results of even
:these efforts are still uncertain.
?
Missiles to Window Glass
. Outside research in some other fields has
borne fruit of .undoubted usefulness. A 8.1.M,
piing: Highly accurate guidance for intercon-
tinental missiles; more ,realistic Army rifle
training, featuring firing at pop?up targets; a
simple .device for determining 'the thickness,
and thus the wind resistance, of window glass
in a high-rise apartment.
? For better or worse, the Government's
total commitment of funds for research of
all, kinds has been mounting fast. Since five
years 'ago, it has roughly doubled, to an ex-
pected $5.6 billion for the fiscal year begun
last July. But in the same time the portion al-
lotted to social and psychological sciences has
more than tripled, to an expected $298 million
this year.
And of this year's $5.6. billion research
total, over 70% is being "done "out-house,"
as Government slang puts it. As. recently as
two years ago, when the total was $4.5 -bil-
lion, the outside share was jittle more than
60%.
More or less in step with the rise in out-
side. social . science research, questions are
arising about the need for some of the studies,
the usefulness of the ;findings, and the .ade-
quacy of Goyernment control and coordina-
tion.
One barb was hurled after the Commerce
Department hired the accounting firm of
. . . _ .
Ernst and Ernst for $95,000 In study why
shipping rates are lower on 'goods imported
to the U.S. than on exports. Among the ex-
planations produced: It's "more expensive to
load and Plow cargo than .to unload it." In
response to this disclostire at a House*appro-
priations hearing, ? irascible Congressman
John Rooney of Brooklyn snapped "And did
you have to spend $95,000 to find' that ',out?
Any, .hatch; hosei .1M .the 474430.10Y11 :rete.r/X9ftt
could have given you the answer In that one
without cost."
Quite unsurprising, Also, Was a key von
chision of a recent research report, "Nlaiiage
merit. Decisions to Automate," produeed fl
the Labor Department by Stanford 11f-scare]
Institute. The major motive for automation
it was found, appears to be cost reduction
particularly reduction that result's from in
creased productivity.
There may he dangers, too, that some re
search results won't come in till after theii
potential usefulness Was evaporated. Just nov
California's San Jose State C,oliege is study
Ing unemployment and re-employment expe
Helices of scientists and engineers laid of
by aerospace and electrical companies in tht
San Francisco Bay Ares during 1954. But corn
pinion of the study 'Is not expected till ? tht
fall of 19e6 land $o may come too late tc
provide lessons helpful for other laid-off sclen
tists and engineers. Already increased de
tense and space work has given almost al
of them jobs and further increases are
in sight. ,An earlier study tot tmemploymenI
in Erie. Pa., met ,such a fate: the problem
had largely vanished before a' report was
made.
Some outside chores the Government itself
might seen bette.it filled In undertake. The pov-
erty-fighting Office of Economic Opportunity
has paid Stanford Research Institute $87,000 to
compile an index of over 170 Federal programs
which help the poor; the project took four
months. Not long ago, the National Aeronau-
tics and Space Administration gave Michigan
State University a $40,000 contract to prepare
recommendations for NASA-sponsored research
at colleges and universities, including Michi-
gan State.
? Just because of their close tics with the Gov-
ernment, some of the researchers heavily de-
pendent on Uncle Sam may be less than com-
pletely objective. .A Federal Aviation Agency
official who supervises part of the FAA's re-
search questions the 'value of studies done by
"captive" nonprofit outfits like the RAND Corp.
and the Institute for Defense Analyses, which
work mostly or entirely for Uncle Sam. "When
we use a captive, I don't know. who is the cap-
tive-the. company or the Government," he
says. Moreover; "the type . of work nor-
mally asked of nonprofit companies requires
the companies to know as much about the Gov-
ernment as the Government itself. This im-
plies a wasteful, and costly duplication of ef-
fort."
Ill-Fated Project Camelot
Lack of intra -Government coordination WAS
damagingly demonstrated last . summer with
the sudden exposure of the Army-backed Proj-
ect Camelot. This was an ambitious $6 million
study of political motivations abroad and their
relation to popular unrest that leads to
guerrilla-style insurgency. Chile was to be an
Interesting example of a place where the prob-
lem did not exist. But ? news of the project
leaked nui?there, arousing Chilean wrath and
mbarraasipp.it.i..:Mnbassador Ralph Dun.
Continued
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2013/12/18: CIA-RDP73-00475R000102100001-3