on the assumption that the number of projects approved on an exploratory basis will be smaller in 1966 than in 1965 and on the fact that the average cost of new projects approved at the October 1965 advisory panel meeting was $45,600. For fiscal year 1967, $3,150,000 is requested. Of this amount, $1,522,000 is requested to continue 32 projects begun in previous years, and $978,000 is requested to begin 22 new projects. In addition, $650,000 is requested for directed research to make a national study of the living conditions of AFDC families. An explanation of these requests follows:

New projects, $978,000.-A review of past operations to the conclusion that the cooperative research and demonstration grants program has provided valuable research findings and has been effective in stimulating research in the fields of social welfare and social security. But the past few years of experience with the program has made clear that a research grant program with the mission of providing information on the organization, coordination, and administration of social welfare and social security programs cannot rely solely on the interests of the research community to accomplish its mission. Therefore, in fiscal year 1967, a concerted effort will be made to encourage and solicit applications for research that bear very directly on the program goals and priorities of the Welfare and Social Security Administrations.

In particular, efforts will be made to develop research projects dealing with the impact of the 1965 amendments to the Social Security Act, especially the public welfare amendments relating to medical asistance. The purposes will be to determine the degree to which new services meet existing and anticipated needs and to assess the impact of new programs on social welfare organizations, personnel, and those being served. A second area in which research will be encouraged will be that concerned with the cost and effectiveness of existing programs and the ways in which modifications in existing practices can increase returns per dollar expended. Efforts will also be made to continue, on a larger scale, research to identify the populations with a high risk of becoming economically dependent and to isolate the factors that lead to reliance on public assistance.

To implement the emphasis on research directly related to social welfare and social security programs will require increased consultation with well-qualified researchers, attempts to develop programs of social welfare research in organizations with the capability of conducting sound research or several related aspects of a major problem, and prompt dissemination of results of the research supported under the program.

In addition, provision is being made for special processing of applications for grant applications from faculty and staff at smaller universities and social welfare organizations. It is hoped that such research will encourage continued interest in problems of social welfare and social security and will aid in the development of research programs in organizations with an as yet unrealized research potential.

In many instances the research interests of the Welfare and Social Security Administrations are identical, but because of the specialized nature of the programs, areas of specific interest to each can be specified..

Research areas of greatest concern to the Welfare Administration include-

(1) Tests of the effectiveness of provisions of the 1962 Public Welfare Amendments to the Social Security Act which permit increased rehabilitation services to prevent dependency and to encourage self-support.

(2) Studies of the causes of dependency and factors related to paths into and out of dependency and the identification of groups having a high risk of becoming dependent.

(3) Research on the needs of public assistance families and the degree to which needs are met by present levels of support and kinds of welfare services provided.

(4) Projects leading to the development of tested alternative uses of professionally trained manpower, agency-trained manpower, and uses of nonprofessionals with various levels of training.

(5) Development of evaluation techniques and standardized procedures for demonstration projects so that results can be made cumulative, can be generalized, and be made more useful.

(6) More accurate measurements of unit costs of providing services and for evaluating different kinds of services.

The major interests of the Social Security Administration will continue to be on studies related to the determinants and characteristics of poverty and in

security and on questions bearing on the adequacy and effectiveness of programs concerned with income maintenance and economic security. Examples of the kinds of studies and research that will be considered and encouraged under this program are

(1) Comparative studies of the characteristics and life histories of OASDI beneficiaries and nonbeneficiaries.

(2) The impact of retirement programs and various retirement patterns and practices on income security.

(3) Studies of aspects of medical care costs and hospital insurance, particularly as they effect OASDI beneficiaries, including such questions as the relation between cost and quality of care in nursing homes.

(4) Exploratory studies of public knowledge of and attitudes toward various aspects of the OASDI program such as the retirement tests, rate of contributions, scope of benefits, how to file for benefits, etc.

(5) Studies of the consumption patterns and practices of aged persons and low-income families, including studies of consumer behavior credit practices, housing costs, medical expenditures in relation to income, and spending and saving patterns.

(6) Cross-cultural studies related to the characteristics, causes, and consequences of poverty and social insecurity.

Directed research, $650,000.-In the past, funds appropriated under the appropriation, "Cooperative research or demonstration projects" have been used primarily for grants to public and private nonprofit organizations. The projects supported have been cooperative in nature, with the grantee providing part of the funds required to perform the research. This approach has produced very valuable information for programs of the Welfare Administration and the Social Security Administration. However, implementation of the Social Security amendments of 1962, 1963, and 1965, which require expansion of the public assistance service programs to help prevent or reduce dependency, accentuate the need for moving ahead faster to obtain the administrative tools necessary to help develop soundly based guidelines for program planning and for program accountability. For this reason, funds to initiate a directed research program are requested for fiscal year 1967.

Effort in the directed research area will be aimed at producing nationwide studies and evaluations of some of the most pressing program issues facing the Welfare Administration. This is in contrast to the cooperative research grants which are more local in their orientation and are based on competitive applications for research or demonstration projects of mutual concern to the grantee organization and the Welfare and Social Security Administrations. The directed research program will be carried out under contract which calls for defined information according to specifications determined by the Welfare Administration. The program will attempt (1) to establish a basis for better defining the objectives for the programs of the Welfare Administration, and (2) to provide an improved means of evaluating how well present legislative authority and program policies are contributing toward accomplishing these objectives.

Among the priorities areas for exploration in the directed research program for the next several years are: a nationwide study of family living conditions, a benchline medical care services survey, a series of cost-effectiveness studies on crucial policies and program issues, and a followup of the medical care services survey to test the exent of the development of medical care programs after enactment of the 1965 amendments. The first major study to be undertaken in this new program is described below.

Nationwide study of family living conditions

In July 1965, over 1 million families received AFDC payments and 45 of every 1,000 children under 18 years of age were in families receiving AFDC payments. But despite the magnitude of the AFDC program, comparatively little is known about the actual living conditions of these families or about other families in equally distressed circumstances who are not receiving assistance This lack of information became particularly apparent when a national review of eligibility found a substantial number of families in need of assistance but not eligible for assistance.

For fiscal year 1967, $650,000 is requested for a national survey of samples of AFDC families, closed AFDC cases. and families who applied for but did not receive assistance. The sample will be designed to yield reliable national and regional estimates for the total AFDC population. In addition to information on the demographic, social, and economic characteristics of these families,

data will be obtained on the effects of specific eligibility requirements that are unrelated to actual need; on the impact of residence laws; on living arrangements and housing conditions; and on the proportions of cases where needs are primarily financial or primarily for other services.

The findings will provide a basic picture of current living conditions of families known to the aid to families with dependent children program and will constitute the most comprehensive source of data on these families ever collected on a nationwide basis. It will also be the first nationwide survey of public assistance recipients in which the data collection is done by interviewers trained and supervised by a non-Federal organization. This approach answers the frequent criticism of caseworkers reporting data on their own caseload.

Specifically, the study will provide information of immediate use in charting program directions as the questions below indicate:

What is the potential for work training and experience among low-income families who apply to public assistance agencies?

What social services that could be provided by public welfare agencies would be most likely to contribute to strengthened family life, to improved potential and readiness for self-support?

To what extent can social services provided by public welfare agencies prevent dependency among families who are not currently receiving assistance but who were formerly dependent or may become so if no help is given? To what extent do current eligibility requirements in AFDC bar from help families who need and could profit by agency assistance and services? How realistic and how nearly adequate are current assistance standards in terms of needs and living conditions among the poor? How can constructive and simplified assistance standards be developed and administered? What do the poor see as their problems and needs? What have been their education and work experience? What are their hopes and aspirations for themselves and their children, especially with regard to education, training, and employment?

How effectively do recipients of public assistance use the limited resources available to them?

A pilot study for this project is now underway in two States. The purpose of the pilot study is to develop, test, and refine the methods of data collection to be used in the nationwide survey. Thus, by fiscal year 1967, full preparations will have been made to permit this large-scale study to be launched.

RESULTS OF INITIAL RESEARCH PROJECTS

Dr. WINSTON. We have cooperative research or demonstration projects, as you know, as a special item.

Senator HILL. Yes.

Dr. WINSTON. Here we are beginning to get very fine results because we have been in this long enough so we begin to get the payoff from our initial research projects.

The majority of the funds requested under this program-and again I am submitting a longer statement for the record.

Senator HILL. All right.

We will have that statement appear in the record. (The statement follows:)

STATEMENT BY COMMISSIONER OF WELFARE

The far-reaching nature of the income maintenance and social welfare services activities supported under the programs administered by the Social Security Administration and the Welfare Administration represent a substantial investment of our national resources in attempting to achieve more adequate levels of living for all citizens. One means of helping to insure that this investment is wisely made and adequately meeting program objectives is through the support of research and demonstration projects which are concerned with such questions as the prevention and reduction of dependency and the improved administration of welfare and social insurance programs.

Such research is supported through the cooperative research or demonstration program. For the most part, grants and cooperative agreements are made with public and private, nonprofit ogranizations to conduct studies of interest both to the research specialists concerned and to the two Federal agencies which are involved with the administration of this program. Research and demonstrations are being supported in the following areas: Studies of the organization, administration, and evaluation of social welfare programs; studies of the economic status, income, and economic security of individuals and families; studies of family organization; and studies of problems related to the provision of health and medical services.

Studies conducted under this program have provided valuable information about the needs and characteristics of specific dependent groups of our society as well as about some of the long-range issues affecting social welfare and social security in the United States. Among the problems studied thus far have been the following:

(1) Improved means of organizing social welfare and health services to dependent families with multiple problems.

(2) Evaluations of the effects of providing welfare services to aged persons to assist them to achieve a higher degree of self-care.

(3) Studies of the relationship between private pension plans, social insurance, and individual savings habits.

As more and more effort is made to implement services provisions of the 1962 Public Welfare Amendments, and as more and more reliance is placed upon the social insurancce programs for maintaining income and for supporting health services for the aged, it is important that research efforts be further supported as a means for permitting the necessary program evaluation and appraisal to be done.

The majority of the funds requested under this program will continue to be utilized for the support of research proposals initiated by non-Federal research specialists and experts. However, increasingly, it is necessary to relate a portion of the resources available for research to studies which have a direct application to ongoing program operations. By the very nature of these studies, their outlines and scope must be carefully specified by program administrators. Therefore, in fiscal year 1967, the Welfare Administration proposes to initiate a directed research program as a means of providing an appraisal of how well present legislative authority and program policies are contributing toward the accomplishment of its program goals.

As the first step in this program, $650.000 is requested for a survey of families currently on the AFDC rolls, those whose cases have been closed, and those