Abstract: There is a major issue in the management and application of social science research grants, which is that the government granting agencies impose their agenda and topics on the grant applicants. This issue poses three conflicts: (1) the topics that the government designates may not be the topics that academic researchers are interested, (2) the grant applicants do not have the knowledge required by the government granting guidelines, and (3) the applied nature of the granting agency does not match the academic nature of the applicants.

We attempt to provide solutions to these conflicts and suggestions to improve the management of research grants by analyzing these conflicts between the functions of the government granting agencies and the desire of grant applicants. This will help both the applicants and the granting agencies.