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

632 Pierre de Bie
the ‘family life teacher’, who specializes in family education, but also for many
years now, the ‘marriage guidance counsellor’, now coming into being in other
countries. Gerard L. Leslie has attempted to give a systematic presentation of
the field of action, terms of reference and the new professional problems of the
marriage guidance counsellor. Here again we have a multidisciplinary field:
the marriage guidance counsellor requires a knowledge of psychiatry and clini-
cal psychology and should possess the equipment of the social worker, and he
must base his advice directly on knowledge gained from the social sciences,
education, social hygiene, sex education and home economics. His job has more
to do with applied research than with problem-focused research. But the need
for diagnosis and treatment demands and stimulates research, which has here a
practical field of application.89 The same could be said of the professional
guidance specialists, guidance psychologists, etc.
No one can deny the advantages of the organization and co-ordination system
established by research workers who realize their affinities and common interests.
Those who study the problems of old age have found a common meeting
ground - gerontology : at international congresses they have taken account of
the heterogeneous nature of their research work and tried to find a solution to
this. After noting the miscellany of subjects presented at the congresses of the
International Association of Gerontology, a miscellany so scattered as to
‘leave an almost pointillist impression, to suggest doubts about the effectiveness
of what is being done’, Paillat mentions the advantage of the co-ordination and
planning mechanism set up by this Association. At the same time as the con-
gresses, seminars are organized bringing together a limited number of partici-
pants to study specific themes: ‘the quality of the papers, the interchange of
knowledge and the pooling of ideas undoubtedly gain thereby, so that thelessons
drawn, the new paths explored, the mistakes made and acknowledged, all help
forward research’.Qo
In conclusion, the factors determining the rise and development of multidisci-
plinary problem-focused research are many and varied. They can combine or
oppose each other in so many different ways that there could be no question of
basing on them a kind of ‘code of multidisciplinary problem-focused research’.
At the most, one can attempt to classify them roughly, more or less systemati-
cally, without prejudging their order of importance.
A. Firstly, there are the factors which constitute the ‘bait’ or stimulus to prob-
lem-focused research :
I. The existence of a problem, of certain needs and the consciousness that
concerted research is an advantage in the solving of the problem and the
satisfaction of the needs. The more acute this awareness91 and the more it is
expressed and defined as an effective and continuous support, the better,:the
chances of problem-focused research to develop;
2. The ‘usefulness’ of problem-focused research is not always as obvious in
the human sciences as it is in the natural sciences. A doctor, an engineer or
an agronomist has the opportunity of applying his knowledge in a limited
sphere in which the effectiveness of his action is obvious (curing a sick person,