The Value of Team Work and Functional Penetration as Methods in Social Investigation
F.C. Bartlett · 2014
In his book, The Local Social Survey in Great Britain (20 ), Wells 2 points out that social surveys had until recently a relatively limited aim and scope. They were largely concerned with local problems and did not, except in one or two instances, attempt to solve theoretical problems, confining themselves to the collection and presentation of material that might be used as a starting point by students of social theory. As the surveys did not set out to test theoretical hypotheses, they could not be expected to penetrate very deep, or to produce evidence on which one could base generalizations I See also Chapter XVIII. 402 B. &s;EXPERIMENT&s; IN SOCIAL SCIENCE The essential method of physical experiment is to vary under 44 being invented for dealing with the problem at this higher level of complexity,l and new methods are similarly needed to supplement those used for analysing partial aspects of complex societies.