RESEARCH PROBES FOR POLICY IMPLICATIONS AND NEW DIRECTIONS IN GRADUATE TRAINING.

Through a critical scrutiny of sociological research in various policy areas, a 1972 conference of seventy persons met in Carmel, California from December 6 to 9, 1972, to post some new directions for graduate training in sociology. Organized by the American Sociological Association, the conference brought U.S. sociologists and other social scientist for an intensive three day meeting. The conference was designed to focus on two major changes that loom before the discipline. The first involve new patterns of federal funding for research and training and the second concerns the increasing emphasis on the need to provide rigorous and responsible social scientific contributions to social policy. To sharpen the discussion on such issues, the Conference Committee arrange for 15 persons to volunteer to prepare special papers that were organize into five general conference seminars. Each author took a given policy area, selected a piece of sociological research and evaluated the work for its policy implications and impact.