Criteria of choice in social science research

Abstract

and Concrete Knowledge : These criticisms are directed at vacuous and vainglorious, not basic, research; the desirable balance of government expenditures between basic and applied research is a separate question. Many respondents, to be sure, called for larger basic research expenditures or (disturbed at pressures for application) simply for retaining existing levels, while others sought greater emphasis on applied and policy research. The arguments for and against higher levels of expenditure on basic research have been stated so often it is profitless to repeat them here. It may, however, be suggested that both academics and men of affairs need knowledge which is of practical use in their work; but the knowledge which is useful to the academic is, not surprisingly, of an academic or abstract character. Scholarly theories and methods change, if at all, with generational speed; as Dr. Logan Wilson has remarked, " changing the curriculum entails all the physical and psychological difficulties of moving a cemetery ''28 The most important means by which scholarly works are produced, distributed, and absorbed by the academic professions, books and journal articles, serve to maintain the slow pace of scholarly change (while the books and journals which are produced more quickly seldom maintain traditional scholarly standards). 2® Wilson, Logan, " A President's Perspective in Abbott, Frank C. (ed.), FacultyAdministration Relationships (Washington D.C. : American Council on Education, 1958), p. 5. This content downloaded from 207.46.13.176 on Mon, 20 Jun 2016 05:26:19 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms