10.2190/PTCA-XA8L-8XUM-RCAH PTCAXA8L8XUMRCAH 2 The Effect of a "Social Problem" Orientation on the Organization of Scientific Research 309 322 20020509 20020509 20020509 20020509 PTCAXA8L8XUMRCAH.pdf http://baywood.metapress.com/link.asp?target=contribution&id=PTCAXA8L8XUMRCAH 4 Charles S. Kamen Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel This paper examines the proposition that the non-scientific frame of reference in which a researcher perceives his problem affects his scientific work on that problem. A survey of scientists and engineers involved in research on problems related to environmental quality shows that researchers who define their research topics as having social relevance are more likely to engage in interdisciplinary research on those topics than are researchers who do not define their topics as socially relevant; this is especially true among those not initially favorable to interdisciplinary research. Possible explanations for this finding are considered. T. Kuhn, <i>The Structure of Scientific Revolutions</i>, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1970. R. K. Merton, Science and Democratic Social Structure, <i>Social Theory and Social Structure</i> (enlarged edition), Free Press, New York, pp. 604-615, 1968. L. Guttman, Social Problem Indicators, 393 <i>Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences</i>, pp. 40-46, 1971. H. Erskine, The Polls: Pollution and Its Costs, 36 <i>Public Opinion Quarterly, 1</i>, pp. 120-135, Spring, 1972. C. S. Kamen, <i>A Sociological Approach to Problems of Environmental Quality, With Special Reference to Israel</i>, Israel Institute of Applied Social Research, Jerusalem, mimeographed, 1973. U. Marinov and E. Harel, (eds.), <i>The Environment in Israel</i> (second edition), Israel National Committee on Biosphere and Environment, National Council for Research and Development, Jerusalem, 1972. P. Shepard and D. McKinley, (eds.), <i>The Subversive Science: Essays Toward an Ecology of Man</i>, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1969. L. Guttman, The Weak Monotonicity of Coefficient Mu-2, Israel Institute of Applied Social Research, Jerusalem, mimeographed, 1970b. I. M. Schlesinger and L. Guttman, Smallest Space Analysis of Intelligence and Achievement Tests, 71 <i>Psychological Bulletin, 2</i>, pp. 95-100, 1969. L. Guttman, Integration of Test Design and Analysis, <i>Proceedings of the 1969 Invitational Conference on Testing Problems</i>, Educational Testing Service, Princeton, pp. 53-65, 1970a. D. F. Kernberg, et al., The Construction of the Mapping Sentence, 36 <i>Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic</i>, pp. 268-275, 1972. H. Zuckerman, Stratification in American Science, 40 <i>Sociological Inquiry, 2</i>, pp. 235-257, Spring, 1970. J. Ben-David and R. Collins, Social Factors in the Origins of a New Science, 31 <i>American Sociological Review, 4</i>, pp. 451-465, August, 1966.