The paper deals with the procedures and practice of identifying operational research projects (ORPs) sponsored by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), and the ORP areas. It is based on case studies of three ORPs implemented in 1974 in different States of the Indian Union by the agricultural universities/research institutions. On the basis of available quantitative and qualitative data upto the year 1980-81, it has been concluded that at least in two out of three cases the ORP areas were not identified with the deserved and desired care so as to meet the stated objectives. More importantly, it appeared that these were not ORPs but agricultural research projects in the usual sense of the term. This implied that the main objective of identifying the socio-economic constraints in transferring a tested technology to the field conditions could just not be achieved. One of the issues raised is whether the scientists and the administration of agricultural universities look at the ORPs as comparatively convenient avenues for finding research funds. To be able to find solutions to the problems the role of multidisciplinary teams from the stage of writing a project proposal, and the role of the ICAR and administration of the agricultural universities have been discussed.