{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.03147397943284512, 'fraction_numerical': 0.013088189467123715, 'mean_word_length': 5.257309941520468, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
G. Clare Wenger (ed.), The Research Relationship: Practice and Politics in Social Policy Research , Allen and Unwin, London, 1987. 228 pp. £22.50, paper £8.95.

G. Clare Wenger (ed.), The Research Relationship: Practice and Politics in Social Policy Research, Allen and Unwin, London, 1987. 228 pp. £22.50, paper £8.95. This publication is Number 15 in the Contemporary Social Research series edited by Martin Bulmer., who is to be congratulated on the range of works that has appeared under his guidance. Wenger's book is based in part on papers offered at a symposium on Contract Research and the Problem of Customer Interest which was held in Quebec in 1983 under the auspices of the Eleventh International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences. Wenger herself provides an introduction, two case studies (one jointly) and a concluding chapter. The case studies are divided into five parts which address different aspects of the researcher-policymaker relationship. These aspects are: the research context; the advocacy role; influencing policymakers; hidden agendas and unanticipated outcomes. Acknowledging that the issue of collaboration between researcher and policymaker is not new, Wenger's own contextual focus is on the increasing funding role of governments and other agencies seeking policy relevant investigations and the consequent emphasis on applied, policy-related research. She argues that the need for a better understanding between researcher and policymaker is great; and her case studies, which vividly illustrate—as others have done before—the problematic nature of the relationship, offer the material to provide that better understanding. Wenger herself is, of course, a researcher and the book examines the relationship from the reseacher's perspective. Perhaps it is a pity that all the contributions are by researchers, and Wenger admits that the role and perspective of the researcher offer a less than total picture. Indeed, one of the most problematic roles in this area of concern is that of the research manager employed in a contracting agency and answerable to policymakers. This mediating role may deserve more attention than it has yet been given in the literature. However, Bulmer's series would be enhanced by a book on the perspectives of both academic social scientists and policymakers in contracting agency settings, whether in the public, private or voluntary sector. (His recent edited volume, Social Science Research and Government, published by Cambridge University Press in 1987, draws on people with experience of central government, but as social scientists rather than policymakers.) Perhaps a set of meta-level case studies of policy research projects informed by a 'pluralistic evaluation' approach could indicate the variety of perspectives on the ' success' or ' failure' of the investigations under scrutiny. Patricia Thomas's work on this theme (The Aims and Outcomes of Social Policy Research, Croom Helm, 1985) concentrated on applied research funded by the (then) Social Science Research Council and three large foundations (Leverhulme, Nuffield and Rowntree) rather than studies funded by governments or other policymaking agencies.