Social Science Space

David Takeuchi argues that even if the FIRST act doesn’t pass, it is clear that U.S. politicians are demanding more of a say in federally funded research. While a push to ensure research remains relevant can be a good thing, scientists and politicians must not forget that initial outcomes do not constitute substantive evidence. Scientific integrity and replication shouldn’t have to be sacrificed in order to meet political time frames.

A blow-by-blow account of last weeks U.S. House of Representatives’ tussling over social sciecne funding differed markedly from dainty action in the Senate this week.

UPDATED: After last week’s flurry of activity in the House and with the Senate weighing in this week, where does social science stand in regard to continued U.S. government spending? The warning signs are more concerning than the current status.

bad news for NSF funded social science — one bill wants to strip $50 million from the Social, Behavioral and Economic Science directorate, while a promised appropriations amendment would hold next year’s funding to this year’s level.

The funding seesaw for that corner of the federal government that pays for a majority of university-based social science in the United States swung lower on Wednesday afternoon.

The National Science Foundation, which funds the majority of university-based social science research in the United States, will see two different ideas of how its research budget should be overseen in play this week in the U.S. House of Representatives.

UPDATED, While the FY2015 funding bill for science includes a record budget for the NSF, two paragraphs in the document are raising red flags in the social and behavioral science community.

National Science Board steps beyond its usual comfort zone to lodge a criticism of NSF re-authorization bill that would establish role for Congress in picking research funding winners and losers.

The Executive Branch’s proposed budget for NSF in the coming fiscal year will be presented to the House Appropriations Committee on Thursday. A competing spending plan that would be markedly less friendly to social, behavioral and economic science is already circulating.

How concerned should the social science community be about the still substantial chunk of money missing from federal social science support in a hotly contested National Science Foundation reauthorization bill? According to Daniel Lipinski, the very conservative Democratic congressman whose amendment backfilled $50 million that even more conservative Republicans wanted to take away, a lot and a little.

A bill that would dramatically reduce the amount of money that the federal government spends on social science research advanced after passing in a House of Representatives subcommittee on a party-line vote this morning.

Thursday’s mark-up of a bill that nearly cuts the National Science Foundation’s social science spending in half is stirring up the academic community.