ABSTRACT
This chapter sets out to describe the constraints of conducting contract research. Using her own experience of directing a research project for the Manpower Services Commission as a case study, the author tries to point out not only the constraints of contract research but the opportunities it can present to study those in power. The case study is of a project that was contracted to evaluate the impact of the Youth Opportunities Programme on the rural labour market. The chapter seeks to show that, by analysing the government’s definition of the problem and relating that perception to the framework within which policy decisions are made, the social construction of youth unemployment and training emerges. The hidden agenda of restructuring the workforce with as little resistance from the workforce as possible is uncovered. A plea is made for contract researchers to study the culture of the powerful and its relation to the creation of social policy.
