Social science and health services research: contributions to public policy.

Public skepticism of the promised links between research and practical ends, and of the role of natural scientists as the ultimate judges of progress, is not new. After the unprecedented new social legislation and related research of the 1960s, social scientists today are being questioned about their contribution to improved public policy. Government interventions in the health services industry created new needs for information and knowledge, and at the same time altered the institutions and mechanisms through which relevant research is conducted and used. Social scientists and public officials will have to act in concert in response to new policy and research environments.