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

Problem-focused research 63 I
It is also necessary not only that these efforts be supported financially, but
that the support received should be adequate and convergent. The history of
problem-focused research in the sphere of the family is mainly one of preoccu-
pations, practical interests and immediate concerns with a view to action and
aid and services to be rendered. But these factors are all mixed up with short-
term situations and viewpoints, to the detriment of coherence and continuity. In
many countries, research into the family has received the encouragement and
collaboration of an impressive number of movements, associations, institutions,
and public and private organizations interested for one reason or another in
action to strengthen the family.87 %ut how many disconnected short-term re-
search projects there are, with no follow-up and only a limited sphere of action,
bordering on applied rather than theoretical research.
The heterogeneous and disconnected nature of these projects is a striking
characteristic of studies on the status of women, youth, old people and the
family. They are fields in which study projects spring up in a disorderly fashion
as a result of practical action. But the research efforts are scattered and are not
followed up, for lack of a structure in which they would be directed along
well-defined lines or which would institutionalize interdisciplinary discussion
and contact among research workers.
Among the positive factors in cumulative problem-focused research is the
creation of new multidisciplinary groups and professional associations, and
the existence of medium- or long-term programmes or even of institutions
organizing this kind of research.
The work of the American school of cultural anthropology has already been
mentioned, uniting the efforts of social psychologists and anthropologists and
making use of psychoanalysis, But besides psychological anthropology and
psychiatric sociology there is socio-economics and socio-linguistics ; the field of
demography is broadened by sociological studies of population, and that of
classical psychology by social psychology. And covering several traditional
disciplines centred upon relatively general and complex subjects, is a super-
structure formed by the studies of behaviour and development.
Research workers need some kind of banner which would be a sign of iden-
tification and a rallying point. A common designation is often useful: ‘human
relations specialist’, ‘development specialist’, ‘social planning expert’.
Under the heading ‘parent and family life education’, a fairly typical field of
problem-focused research is developing in the United States, bringing together
sociologists, educationalists, psychologists, psychiatrists, specialists in child
development and home economics. New values sustained by public opinion
have given rise to this. According to Kerckhoff, family education programmes
in the United States have two characteristic tendencies:
I. A waning interest in the study of the family as a social institution and a
growing interest in the preparation for individual participation at different sta-
ges of family life; 2.a growing movement in favour of the introduction of family
life education into primary and secondary schools.88
New professions are springing up also. In the United States there is not only