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A DEFINITION OF ENVIRONMENTAL
RESEARCH
The words environment and research mean different
things to different people. It becomes obvious from
their meanings given in the Webster and Oxford dic-
tionaries that combining these words creates added con-
fusion about what environmental research is. Environmen-
tal protection and funding agencies in the private and
public sectors receive applications for environmental re-
search funding from workers in almost every recognized
field of knowledge ranging from mathematics to social
and behavioral sciences.
Broadly speaking, environmental research studies
should provide new knowledge needed to understand
environmental problems and to solve them. Normally an
environmental research project/proposal will involve all
or most of the following activities during its lifetime:
1. Demonstration of the need for carrying out the re-
search project and review of the existing literature
relevant to the project;
2. Monitoring or collection of data by performing
laboratory or field experiments;
3. Development of new techniques or improvements
in the existing techniques for obtaining accurate
and precise data;
4. Qualitative and]or quantitative interpretation of
the results in the light of the existing knowledge;
5. Enunciation of the conclusions drawn from the re-
search study;
6. Making suggestions for further work in the broad
area covered by the investigation.
Usually a conceptual or theoretical study does not in-
clude steps (2) and (3). However, .all the above steps are
equally important for the successful completion of an
investigation. If the intended investigation excludes
steps (4) and (5) from its overall objectives, then that
study should not be called research. This will exclude ac-
tivities such as monitoring on continuous or periodic
basis, routine physical and chemical analyses, and estab-
lishment of inventories. Such activities are carried out to
meet operational needs and/or provide a service and
should be included in the operation or support budgets.
In natural sciences, there are standard definitions,
(Organization for Economic Cooperation and Develop-
ment, 1976, Science Council of Canada, 1972) of
terms like basic research, applied research, experimental de-
velopment research, whereas in social and behavioral sci-
ences we have not come across such definitions. Because
of the varying mandates under which different en-
vironmental funding agencies at the provincial and fed-
eral levels operate, various agencies have developed
their own definitions. My involvement in the provincial
environmental funding agency leads me to believe that
there is a need to create a concensus on the definition of
environmental research.
There is a need for developing a definition of envi-
ronmental research, that establishes a broad scope and is
sufficiently concise to exclude other research areas. I
propose the following definition: [Environmental research
/s] scientific activity undertaken with the primary aim of
maintaining, restoring, or improving the environment,
or for predicting changes in the environment. Investiga-
tion can be conceptual, experimental, or developmental
in nature or may pertain to man-made or natural en-
vironmental systems.
I hope this note raises some debate on this interesting
subject. Useful discussions with my colleagues are ac-
knowledged.
H.S. Sandhu
Research Secretariat
Alberta Department of the Environment
Edmonton, Canada
Literature Cited
Organization for Economic Cooperauon and Development.
1976. The measurement of scientific and technical activities.
proposed standard practice for surveys of research and ex-
perimental development. (Frascati Manual) DAS/PD/62.47.
Paris. 139 pp.
Science Council of Canada. 1972. Policy objectives for basic re-
search in Canada. Report No. 18. Ottawa. 75 pp.
Environmental Management, Vol. 1, No. 6, pp. 483-489
@Springer-Verlag New YorkInc. 1977