CHANGING CONCEPTIONSOF BASIC RESEARCH?

Jane Calvert and Ben R. Martin

SPRU Science and Technology Policy ResearchUniversity of Sussex,

Falmer, BrightonBN1 9RF, UK

September 2001

Background Document for theWorkshop on Policy Relevance and Measurement of Basic Research

Oslo 29-30 October 2001

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction and summary.............................................................................................. 12. A brief history of the term.............................................................................................. 13. Present use of the concept of basic research in the science policy context ................. 3

3.1 What is meant by basic research? ............................................................................. 33.1.1 Distinguishing the term epistemologically ........................................................ 73.1.2 Aims and intentionality...................................................................................... 83.1.3 Distance from application.................................................................................. 93.1.4 The institutional distinction............................................................................... 93.1.5 Disclosure norms ............................................................................................... 93.1.6 Scientific field.................................................................................................. 103.1.7 Basic research in different fields ..................................................................... 103.1.8 Official Definitions.......................................................................................... 103.1.9 Summarising the various definitions ............................................................... 11

3.2 Basic research as an ideal........................................................................................ 123.2.1 The value of basic research.............................................................................. 12

3.3 Other terms.............................................................................................................. 133.3.1 Alternative categorisation schemes ................................................................. 13

3.4 The funding of basic research ................................................................................. 153.5 Changes in the funding environment for basic research ......................................... 16

3.5.1 Is basic research becoming more important?................................................... 173.5.2 Changes in the way the term is used................................................................ 18

3.6 How useful is the term? .......................................................................................... 183.7 Different ways in which basic research is measured............................................... 19

4. Policy implications ....................................................................................................... 204.1 Advantages of retaining the current terminology.................................................... 204.2 Advantages of changing the terminology and tentative suggestions ...................... 21

5. Conclusions .................................................................................................................. 22References ......................................................................................................................... 24

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1. Introduction and summaryBasic research is a term that is widely used but with little apparent consensus on what itactually means. This background document analyses the concept of basic research,drawing on interviews with nearly 50 scientists and policy makers on the definition of theterm and on the challenges that basic research is facing in todays funding environment.The aim of this document is exploratory and descriptive. It does not attempt to provideanswers but to increase awareness of the various dimensions of basic research and of themany ways in which the term is used.

The term basic research developed in a specific historical context which is summarisedin section 2. Section 3 then turns to the definition of basic research. Interviews withscientists and policy makers show that the concept is defined in several different, ofteninconsistent, ways. Six of these methods of defining basic research are outlined in section3.1 and compared with official definitions. The aim here is not to establish which ofthese is the correct way of defining basic research, but to draw attention to the variousdefinitions that are currently in circulation. Section 3.2 addresses the highly-valued idealof science for its own sake, and the associations basic research has with status and value issues which should not be overlooked in any analysis of the concept. Severalalternative categorisation schemes and new terms have been developed that attempt toovercome the perceived shortcomings of current research classification terminology(notably Stokes 1997), and these are described and assessed in section 3.3. Thejustification for the public funding of basic research, which is closely related to thedefinition of the term, is the subject of section 3.4. Here the aim is to explore briefly thevarious justifications that are currently in use. Changes in the funding environment andtheir implications for basic research are examined more broadly in section 3.5. There areincreased pressures for instrumentality in research in todays climate and these have hadeffects on the way scientists present their research. The actual day-to-day utility (and lackof utility) of the concept of basic research is discussed in section 3.6, and section 3.7addresses some existing ways of measuring basic research. Finally, the policyimplications of our changing conceptions of basic research are examined in section 4,which asks whether our current terminology should be retained or modified.

2. A brief history of the termThe value of the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake can be traced back to theAncient Greeks, for whom this type of pursuit was associated with social status. Thescientific revolution drew on the knowledge of the Greeks so the idea of the superiority ofpure knowledge was retained. When universities in Europe and the United States wereestablished they incorporated these ideas (Brookman 1979 and Stokes 1997), whichremain important constituents of our current notion of basic research (see section 3.2).However, it was the Second World War and the Cold War that followed which werecrucial in establishing the institutional arrangements and ideological commitments thatwe now associate with basic research. During the Second World War the military andacademics joined forces (Elzinga and Jamison 1995) and public funds became essential toscience. Funding for science compared with that in earlier periods was extremelygenerous (Ziman 1994:94).

Perhaps because of worries about increased government intervention, the importantnotion of basic research as an autonomous pursuit, free of interference by sponsors, wasasserted at this time, one of the major influences being the US presidential scienceadvisor, Vannevar Bush (1945). Bush managed to instil the idea of a generously fundedyet self-governing scientific establishment. By stressing the importance and inevitable

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benefits of basic research, he helped legitimate the linear model where inputs in basicresearch would eventually feed into technological innovation. Bush argued that it wouldbe self-defeating to attempt to constrain the creativity of basic research, and that sciencewas most fertile if it was not under direct governmental control (National Science Board2000).

The Cold War period is also important because it was during this time that thejustification for the public funding of basic research emerged. This justification wasbased on the arguments of economists that, because of the unique characteristics of basicresearch, the private sector would always under-invest in it i.e. that it represented a caseof market failure (see section 3.4). Here we see that the justification for the publicfunding of basic research is closely linked to the definition of the term.

The first attempts to measure basic research were made in the early 1960s, and someargue that this measurement is the main reason why basic research became a centralcategory in science policy (Godin 2000; see also section 4.1). The US National ScienceFoundation (NSF) was, in the 1960s, the most advanced in classifying different types ofresearch, so the NSF definitions were an important resource when the OECD wasformulating its own definitions, which it codified in the Frascati manual in 1963 (Godin2000). This classification of basic research became crucially important for the persistenceof the concept over subsequent decades. Once it became something that could bemeasured, trends could be identified and international comparisons drawn.

The 1950s and 1960s were periods of considerable growth in funding for scientificresearch. During this time there was a belief that investments in science would generateinnovation (Gummett 1991). Towards the end of the 1960s, the belief in the inevitablybenevolent potential of science began to be challenged (Salomon 1977), as some of thenegative consequences of scientific and technological development on the environmentand wider society became apparent. During the late 1960s and 1970s many countriesexperienced a reduction in government expenditures on science (Elzinga 1985:192).

The 1980s saw a large shift in governmental attitudes towards basic research in manycountries. With the ending of the Cold W