Word: research
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...present, the most important point is that the government and the researcher were interested in the same problem, defined in the same way: if the researcher were interested in another problem, or a different formulation of the problem, he would not have received the funds. This government research grant would be for the purpose of "understanding the development process." not for determining whether it should be initiated, under what conditions, or by which government. Essentially the development problem is transformed into a technical question with the underlying issues obscured or taken for granted...
...hidden political questions in social science research can also be seen by considering advisory work performed for the government. Vernon feels that most consultants with government agencies lends the adviser an opportunity to press for "new initiatives, bright departures" in established policies. A political scientist who gave advice on counter insurgency warfare or political development in Vietnam. for example, would probably justify his activity by saying that he was merely offering technical assistance: the question of whether the policy was appropriate was irrelevant to his own technical, non-ideological role. By saying nothing about the purposes of counter-insurgency warfare...
Again it is important to note that the political scientist and the government are interested in the same problem, formulated in the same way. The social scientist's research has been designed in such a way that he can easily slip into an advisory role for the government. Although his own research has been "value-free," it actually depends on assumptions about policy which the government shares but makes explicit. By taking an established point of view as a frame of reference for his work, the political scientist can pursue what seem to be neutral, objective studies...
...possible to imagine a prevailing viewpoint which would expose the basic value judgments implicit in the decision to do counter-insurgency research. In Gulliver's Troubles, for example, Stanley Hoffman discusses a possible international system which would require
...such an atmosphere, research on counter-insurgency warfare would contradict the general consensus, and its purposes would be critically examined...