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

Problem-focused research 619
contrary: the degree of dependence of the external research worker may be very
great, while the subordinate position of the internal worker may be only appar-
ent. Too many variables play a part here for us to be able to prejudge in the
abstract what influence the position of the research worker would have. If there
is no lack of good problem-focused research carried out by multidisciplinary
teams outside the organizations which subsidize and utilize research, there is
similarly no lack of collaboration between several research workers within
organizations which are also potential users : the research organizations working
for authorities and integrated in the administration of their countries provide
many examples.
The position of the research worker in relation to the structure of the client
organization is an important variable - one of several - in the relationship
between research and action. Apart from variables between individuals, those
of traditions, and those of circumstances, there is the whole problem of the
status and the ethic of the research worker62 which has to be raised here.
Dificulties in the dialogue between research workers
It is not enough to have a lucid dialogue with the men of action. A dialogue
must be sought between research workers, too. The specialist isolated in his
research department runs the risk of sclerosis; if the research is multidisciplinary,
a thousand obstacles may hinder or stultify the collective effort.
It is important that problem-focused research should remain close to developments
in the so-called pure sciences. As Johan Galtung very aptly puts it: ‘Much
oriented research in big bureaucracies or enterprises becomes stale because of
isolation from other research environments and because it is dominated by
people with insufficient motivation to renew themselves’. 63
Considering the problems of research directed towards peace, Galtung points
out that the institutionalization of the relations between scientists in the pure and
the problem-focused sciences is not easy; that we must see to stimulating institutional
structures; and that in the modern world these structures are
c hiefly universities and academies. Here exchange relations may exist not between
branches of pure research but also with problem-focused research, an
institute for research on peace collaborating broadly with a development institute,
or a social welfare institute, and so on.
This view is without doubt a little one-sided. Numerous research centres which
are attached neither to universities nor to academies have been able to supply
ample proof of their fertility on the plane of scientific research, although their
main calling is connected with problem-focused research. But it is certain that
problem-focused research, at the juncture between research and action, must
exercise unceasing care to maintain a delicate balance between the two: in
widely-focused research there is a risk that the academic spirit wil win, while
in narrowly-focused research the requirements of action may sometimes risk
making research sterile.
In order to bring out in sufficient relief the main snags which may be en-