The Federal Republic of Germany's educational system became a matter of major national concern in the early 1960's, drawing new attention to the need for educational research. Sociological and economic questions joined the pedagogical and psychological concerns previously central to research; the character of the educational system was added to epistemological issues as a crucial subject of investigation; and new, empirical analytical methods came into use. Policy-makers and school administrators put the resulting research to work during the reform period of the early 1970's, though discrepancies between their interests and those of the researchers may have led to unsatisfactory results. Since this time, practice-oriented and applied research have increasingly been made the province of regional research institutes rather than of commissioned, independent experts. Basic research is conducted primarily by universities. The funding of research, dependent largely on the nature of the government ties maintained by the research institutes, was affected critically by the new conservatism developing in the wake of the financial downturn of the middle 1970's. This conservative shift also encouraged practice-oriented research designed to achieve short-term results. This chapter concludes with a note on developing methodological trends. (PGD)