Public accountability and the project-grant mechanism |
| |
| Authors: | Bernard R Stein |
| |
| Institution: | Planning and Policy Analysis Office, The National Science Foundation, Washington, D.C. 20550, USA |
| |
| Abstract: | The project-grant mechanism is a major determinant of research styles and the direction and degree of scientific progress. Insofar as such research increasingly serves as the source of technology, and thus of economic, social and political change, the mechanism also influences, if only indirectly, the societal condition. In its current form the mechanism permits the support of significant amounts of research to be determined on the basis of scientific merit. The result has been the substitution of scientific progress for the achievement of tangible technical ends as the measure of public accountability. Given the increased appearance of undesirable social consequences based, in part, on scientific accomplishments this substitution is now seriously questioned. It has given rise to several attempts to make academic research more responsive to public needs while attempting to preserve the essentials of academic freedom. |
| |
| Keywords: | |
| 本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录！ |
|
