This paper was presented as background for discussion at the 8th Annual Conference of the Social Administration Association in Edinburgh in July 1974. The aim was to produce as comprehensive a review as possible within reasonable length and the rather awkward title is intended to convey that the paper covers activities, notably in the field of management, which somewhat stretch the normal meaning of ‘research’. An introduction briefly sketches as background the financial and physical scale of the Department's social security responsibilities. The remainder of the paper is laid out in four sections (corresponding to the way the Department is organized at headquarters); one dealing with social security research as the phrase would perhaps be most usually understood; one with statistics; one with the specialized work of the Economic Adviser's Office; and one with managerial research and allied activities. As indicated at the heading, this last section, which anyway did not claim to be comprehensive, has for present purposes been drastically curtailed, touching only on two topics which are, perhaps – especially the work of the Supplementary Benefit Commission's Inspectorate – of more general than specialized management interest. Otherwise the paper remains, apart from editorial changes, as presented to the Conference, and facts and figures do not take account of developments since then.