10. Some 20 years ago, Dr. Harvey Brooks, who then chaired a comparable committee, noted in a report to this Committee, and quoting an OECD report, that "most countries have better statistics on poultry production than on the activities of their scientists and engineers." Your present report does not discuss that issue, but neither does it employ, to any exent, quantitative What, analysis for policy formulation, by more expensive use of such data. in your view, are the prospects for such expanded use of statistical analysis in the formulation of U.S. science policy? 10. Statistical data. The answer to Question 9 reveals my skepticism that an expanded use of statistical analysis is the best way to improve our understanding of the scientific enterprise and to guide it better. Careful research on the processes of science and its institutions, and periodic reviews (of the sort that have been made on a number of occasions under the auspices of the Academy's Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy) of the progress and problems of particular disciplines will be more productive than statistical studies, however sophisticated. APPENDIX 2 ADDITIONAL MATERIALS FOR THE RECORD The Outlook for Committee on Science, NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES (95) NOTICE: The National Academy of Sciences was established in 1863 by Act of Congress as a The Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy is a joint committee of the This work was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant PSP- Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 85-60421 Available for $3.00 per copy (prepaid only) from National Academy Press 2101 Constitution Ave., NW Printed in the United States of America Preface The 1985 Outlook for Science and Technology is the fourth report in a series originally mandated by the National Science and Technology Policy, Organization, and Priorities Act of 1976. Subsequent to the passage of that Act, a reorganization of the Executive Office of the President gave the National Science Foundation responsibility for preparing the Outlooks. In turn, the Foundation asked the National Academy of Sciences to assist. Since 1982, the Outlooks have been prepared by the Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy (COSEPUP), a joint unit of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The purposes of these reports are to describe and discuss: ⚫ current and emerging problems of national significance that are identified through scientific research or in which scientific or technical considerations are of major importance; and opportunities for the use of new and existing scientific and iii |