THE ART OF SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION 



mined by the aptitude that he shows and the success he attains. 



Both the team worker and the individual worker usually find 

 it useful to keep a list of the ideas and experiments he intends 

 to try — a work programme, which is revised continuously. 



Some consider that the best work is done in small research 

 institutes where the director can keep in intimate touch with 

 all the work, and that when this size is passed efficiency drops. 

 It is undoubtedly true that there are examples of small institutes 

 whose output per man is better than in the average large 

 institute. In such places one usually finds a director who is not 

 only a capable scientist but who also stimulates enthusiasm in 

 his staff High productivity in large institutes perhaps depends 

 on there being several active foci, each centred on a good leader. 



Different types of research 



Research is commonly divided into "applied" and "pure". 

 This classification is arbitrary and loose, but what is usually 

 meant is that applied research is a deliberate investigation of a 

 problem of practical importance, in contradistinction to pure 

 research done to gain knowledge for its own sake. The pure 

 scientist may be said to accept as an act of faith that any 

 scientific knowledge is worth pursuing for its own sake, and, 

 if pressed, he usually claims that in most instances it is eventually 

 found to be useful. Most of the greatest discoveries, such as 

 the discovery of electricity, X-rays, radium and atomic energy, 

 originated from pure research, which allows the worker to follow 

 unexpected, interesting clues without the intention of achieving 

 results of practical value. In applied research it is the project 

 which is given support, whereas in pure research it is the man. 

 However, often the distinction between pure and applied research 

 is a superficial one as it may merely depend on whether or not 

 the subject investigated is one of practical importance. For 

 example, the investigation of the life cycle of a protozoon in a 

 pond is pure research, but if the protozoon studied is a parasite 

 of man or domestic animal the research would be termed applied. 

 A more fundamental differentiation, which corresponds only very 

 roughly with the applied and pure classification is {a) that in 



126 



