At the same time. however. we have also become acutely aware of the fundamental inadequacy of the information upon which social policies and programs are based. Because of our information gaps. national problems go nearly unnoticed until they suddenly are forced upon us by some significant development. Thus. we learn of widespread hunger in America. of the rapid deterioration of our environment. of dangerous tensions and unrest in our great urban centers. of the shocking conditions under which migrant farmworkers live. and of the absence of decent medical care for tens of millions of our citizens. We desperately need ways to monitor our social health and to identify such problems before they destroy our society. Another tremendously expensive consequence of our lack of adequate information is that we devise and operate programs based on myth and ignorance.