Models for Science Planning

A characteristic of scientific research is that the intellectual issues with which it is concerned are seldom uniquely related to the purposes or ultimate use of the research. This is especially true for basic research, but it is to some extent true for all research which is not directly developmental, i.e., aimed directly at the creation of a product, system, or process largely envisioned in advance. This lack of one-to-one correspondence between research activity and its end product makes the problem of planning peculiarly difficult. The research enterprise is more like an organism than like a collection of objects. The removal of one part may degrade the functioning of the whole organism and not just the particular function ostensibly served by the part removed. On the other hand, some parts are more essential to the functioning of the organism than others, and what may seem least important from the point of view of its own unique function may be the most important from the viewpoint of the organism as a whole.

In this article I intend to discuss four models of the research enterprise which might serve as partial bases or rationales for planning the support and development of science. My purpose will not be to suggest that one model is more valid than another, but rather to suggest that each has some validity and a claim to serve as a partial basis for allocation of public resources to science. Each implies different mechanisms and criteria of choice, and the scientific system as a whole should consist of a mixture or blend of different allocation mechanisms in which the criteria appropriate to one of the four models are dominant. The models used represent an elaboration of views first put forward in my paper, "Can Science Be Planned?"

For full text please see PDF below (login may be required).