Conflicts in Societal Research A Study of one RANN Project Suggests that Benefiting Society May Cost Universities
Research on social problems has thrust universities into a social, political, and economic environment of competing interests. This paper describes one project, the Heavy Metals Task Force at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, to illustrate the conflicts of doing research on social problems in a university setting. It was found that the basic contention over what research is to be pursued was affected by the funding organization, the university itself and external social policy-making groups. It was concluded that doing research on social problems affects the conduct of science as it relates to control and self-determination over research.