The Rate and Direction of Agricultural Research at US Land Grant Universities

本研究的总体目标是通过检查与研究成果（文章，专利和博士学位）相关的伦理和价值观，科学研究人员方向和受众的潜在变化（例如，基础与应用，许可公司与更广泛的公众传播）以及研究的可观察质量（引用，许可收入或其他措施），提高对农业研究中大学资源分配的理解。该项目将检查大学层面的资源分配过程，以及美国土地资助大学（LGU）农业和生命科学学院的个人研究人员的水平。在大学层面，该项目建立在一个20年的面板数据库上，该数据库包含大学研究投入、产出和专利收入，这是两位主要研究者（Barham和Foltz）在过去4年里开发的。在个人层面，该项目将对地方政府单位的大学研究人员进行一项主要调查，询问他们关于研究方向、产出、资助来源、利益相关者和态度的详细问题。这次对科学家的调查是在另一位主要研究人员（巴特尔）在20世纪90年代中期所做的一项调查以及莱西和布希在1979年所做的一项更早的调查之后进行的。本项目的研究方法在许多重要方面促进了学术专利的文献。首先，理论框架“激励拥挤”为理解金钱激励如何影响科学家的伦理、价值观和研究选择提供了一个新的框架，该框架的使用通过对其命题提供实证检验来推进理论。其次，通过建立在过去数据收集工作的基础上，这项工作将具有横截面和时间序列信息，可以促进我们对科学家伦理、价值观和研究选择的理解。第三，这项工作将能够将科学家数据与跨时间和大学的大学水平信息相结合。第四，通过拥有一个跨学科的研究团队，该项目将能够将社会学的伦理和价值观问题与经济学家的数据和理论驱动的分析工具结合起来。本项目调查了一系列法规和法律的变化，这些变化似乎对地方大学农业学院的研究方式产生了重大影响。大学专利创造的激励正在改变科学家的伦理和价值观，他们选择的项目类型，他们研究的渠道，以及研究如何向公众传播（例如，专利或公开出版物）。鉴于公共部门研究在上个世纪产生新的农业技术方面的核心作用，LGU研究重点和科学家价值观的这些变化可能对美国农业的长期可持续性产生重大影响（Goldberger和buttel， 2001）。更深入地了解大学研究中的资源分配和成果，有助于设计更好的政策和激励结构，以促进地方政府单位的农业和生命科学研究，包括效率和公平成果。这项研究的结果将提交给土地授予大学、州立法机构和跨学科受众的关键决策者。

The overall goal of this research is to develop an improved understanding of universityresource allocation in agricultural research by examining the ethics and values associatedwith research outputs (articles, patents, and doctorates), potential changes in thedirection of and audience for scientific researchers (e.g., basic vs applied, firms forlicensing vs broader public dissemination), and the observable quality of the research (interms of citations, licensing revenues, or other measures). The project will examine theresource allocation process at the university level as well as at the level of individualresearchers within the agricultural and life science colleges of U.S. Land Grantuniversities (LGU).At the university level, the project is built on a 20-year panel database on universityresearch inputs, outputs, and patent revenues that two of the principal investigators(Barham and Foltz) have developed over the past 4 years. At the individual level, theproject will undertake a major survey of university researchers at LGUs asking themdetailed questions about their research direction, outputs, grant sources, stakeholders,and attitudes. This survey of scientists follows up on a previous survey done by anotherof the principal investigators in the mid-1990s (Buttel) as well as an earlier effort byLacy and Busch in 1979.The research methods in this project advance the literature on academic patenting in anumber of important ways. First, the theoretical framework, "motivation crowding,"provides a novel framework for understanding how monetary incentives affect scientists'ethics, values, and research choices and the framework's use advances the theory byproviding an empirical test of its propositions. Second, by building on past datacollection efforts, this work will have both cross-section and time-series informationthat can advance our understanding of scientist ethics, values, and research choices.Third, this work will be able to integrate the scientist data with university levelinformation across time and universities. Fourth, by having an interdisciplinary researchteam, this project will be able to combine the ethics and values concerns of sociologywith the data and theory driven analytic tools of economists.This project investigates a series of regulatory and legal changes that appear to behaving a major impact on the way in which research is done at agricultural colleges inLGUs. The incentives created by university patenting are changing the ethics and valuesof scientists, the types of projects they choose, the outlets for their research, and howthat research gets disseminated to the public (e.g., patents or open publications). Giventhe central role of public sector research to generating new agricultural technologiesover the last century, these changes in LGU research focus and scientist values may havesignificant impacts on the long-term sustainability of US agriculture (Goldberger andButtel, 2001).A deeper understanding of resource allocation and outcomes in university research cancontribute toward the design of better policies and incentive structures to promoteagricultural and life science research at LGUs, including efficiency and equity outcomes.Findings from this study will be presented to key decision makers at Land Grantuniversities, in state legislatures, and to interdisciplinary audiences.