Abstract
A BROADSHEET (No. 149) recently issued by P E P (Political and Economic Planning) gives a brief review of the social and economic surveys which have already been made by P E P or other agencies or are still in progress. The research group of P E P which has already issued a report on agricultural research in Great Britain is now engaged in a survey of British scientific research in general. By this group research activity has been classified under four main headings: background research, or the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake; basic research, or the study of broad subjects with a pronounced practical bearing; ad hoc research or the study of specific practical problems; and pilot or development research, bridging the gap between survey or experiment and practice. Social or economic surveys generally fall into tho second or third group, while studies of housing problems or of opportunities for industrial development appear to bo comparable with such types of ad hoc research as the control of foot-and-mouth disease. Broader studies of the incidence of poverty or of the factors determining the location of industry fall into the same category as the study of animal genetics.
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Political and Economic Planning. Nature 144, 144–145 (1939). https://doi.org/10.1038/144144c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/144144c0