Main trends of research in the social and human ... - unesdoc - Unesco

Problem- focused research 5 89
ence may sometimes be merely a matter of degree. Moreover, applied and basic
research may in certain cases prove stimulating and enriching for problemfocused
research, as for example when repeated applications of a test or an
economic measure awaken the research worker to a realization of the imperfection
of the instruments, and even of the theories in accordance with which the
instruments have been elaborated.
Psychology and economics led on to applied research sooner than other
human sciences, and to a greater extent. Sociology is now reaching the same
stage, particularly in the United States where it is more firmly established and
more frequently consulted; at some distance behind, political science follows,
in SO far as progress is being made in the knowledge of electoral behaviour,
pressure groups and the technique of achieving power where opportunities
for application arise. It is no longer a question of knowledge for the sake of
knowledge, but of finding processes, contrivances even, and of being able to
use knowledge, however simplified, in order to act more efficiently in a given
framework.
The place of problem-focused research
Problem-focused research, lying between basic research and applied research,
can have features in common with each of them. While it may be free and basic
in its manner of proceeding and in its results, it is less free in its conception;
further, its applicability and the possibility of translating its results immediately
into action can be regarded as additional concrete confirmation of the fact that
it is problem-focused.
Since it partakes of the nature of basic research and at the same time of
applied research, problem-focused research seems to defy any simple classifica-
tion. It is a kind of ‘no man’s land‘ between the two. The proportion of theory
to application varies not only with the subject of the investigation but also
with its stages, with the investigator, the institution to which he belongs and the
society in which he works. Much depends on the conditions under which the
study is carried out, and in particular on other activities in the environment,
which may in some cases be purely academic, and in others be aimed exclusively
at practical results.
Thus the differences may be thrown into relief by the research institutions
concerned.
Basic research, which is mainly characterized by independence in the choice
of subjects, implies independent bodies : universities and academies are the
kind of bodies which, by virtue of their status and their function, seem suited
to the development of basic research.
Problem-focused research implies more specialized institutions, concentra-
ting on a specific area (youth, old people, regional economic development, etc.).
The degree of independence of the institutions, and of freedom in regard to
contracts, wil affect the possibilities of theoretical development (differences
between the ‘contract’, the programme and a broadly open field of research).
In its pure state, applied research is a matter for offices, administrative depart-