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

The organization and financing of research 783
represent attempts to explore and establish new fields of scholarly
enquiry. They express a researchlteaching ‘mix’.
Type c. Centres of applied research associated with advanced research training.
Centres of Type c may be regarded as a resultant of Types A and B.
They supply the necessary link between them, being intermediate
bodies between user-organizations and orthodox university depart-
ments.
They may be located within the boundaries of universities and
related to several Type B departments (such as the Institute of Social
Research of the University of Michigan); or outside them as independ-
ent institutes (such as the Netherlands Institute of Preventive Medi-
cine in Leiden). They are problem-centred and interdisciplinary, but
focus on generic rather than specific problems. They accept professional
as well as scientific responsibility for the projects they undertake. They
contribute both to theoretical development and to the improvement
of practice. Their work expresses a research/application ‘mix’.
The criteria that differentiate the three types are summarized in the following
table.
Characteristics of main types of research organization
Type of work Type of setting
User-organ- University Spec i a 1
izations departments institutes
Source of problem Specific client Needs of theory General ‘field‘
needs and method needs
Level of problem Concrete Abstract Generic
Activity mix Research/ Research/ Research/
Service Teaching Application
Disciplinary mix Multiple Single Interrelated
I I. The three types form an inter-dependent system. No one can be effective
alone, since the feedback of each into the others is critical for the development
of the whole. The boundaries of A and B extend into c, and those of c into
either A or B. Overlap is desirable, as regards both activities and staff. Many
existing research organizations show idiomatic combinations of the basic types:
A & B; A & C; B & c; A, B & c. Examples which include all would be profes-
sional schools associated with universities. Such schools are inherently inter-
and multidisciplinary, combining teaching with both basic and applied research
and with demonstration practice. Yet schools of administration, medicine,
engineering, architecture and planning, education, etc. often experience conflict
through failing completely to recognize the presence of the different mixes. They
do not always place equal value on their distinctive contributions, or organize
themselves appropriately for their different requirements.