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

Problem-focused research 597
However, like an input-output table of an economic system, the cells wil differ in sig-
nificance, even to the point where one oriented science stands in an exchange relation with
amost only one (group of) pure science(s). But in general this is not the case, as witness-
ed by the frequent reference to oriented sciences as multidisciplinary, since they mobilize
relevant knowledge from several disciplines to bear upon the study of the conditions for
obtaining the goals. However, one could just as well have referred to the pure sciences
as multidisciplinary since they incorporate knowledge derived from several oriented
disciplines. When this is not done it is probably due to the circumstance that the orient-
ed disciplines have grown out of the pure ones when a tradition of application has been
established, and then insights from other pure sciences have been amalgamated into the
body of knowledge and a “multidisciplinary approach” has been di~covered.7~
Pure sciences
Oriented sciences
1 VI 1 v2
I
... 1 V” I
F = fields of pure research
V = values determining fields of problem-focused research
The fields of niultidisciplinary problemfocused research
The history of scientific research in the social sciences offers many examples of
recourse to various disciplines in a concerted effort to solve specific social
problems. There are already examples in the past; they are becoming more and
more frequent today.
For the past, the classic example, taken from the Anglo-Saxon tradition, is
the social survey.
The utilitarian and pragmatic character of a good deal of empirical social
research undertaken in the United Kingdom and in the United States is well
known. It is striking how American sociology has been built up stage by stage
during the 19th century on the basis of two traditions; the one purely theoreti-
cal, and largely inspired by European models and particularly by Herbert
Spencer’s thinking, the other resolutely practical, devoted to the study of
social problems such as arose in the United States during the 19th and from the
beginning of the 20th century. In this latter tradition the most striking and
characteristic achievements are the social surveys. The Americans, taking as
their model famous English pioneers such as John Howard and Charles Booth,
have carried out a large number of social surveys, sometimes mustering, from the
start of the 20th century, considerable funds for the purpose. As early as 1930,
Eaton and Harrison drew up a first, and most impressive bibliography of social
surveys, listing 2,775 different studies, some of which, such as the Pittsburgh
and the Springfield surveys, have remained standard reference w0rks.~9
Multidisciplinary team-work was undoubtedly one of the most typical fea-