This paper is based upon a study undertaken for the Department of the Environment and was designed to assess the housing needs and preferences of disabled people in terms of design and location of their dwelling. The main subject of this paper is a discussion and evaluation of the special features of the study in the fields of questionnaire design, interviewer training, incorporation of architectural facets and classification into categories of handicap. Finally, the opportunity has been taken to look at some implications for future social planning.
Amongst the most urgent and difficult problems to be solved today, without any doubt, is that of agricultural development and the success of planning in this field. The series of surveys that we have carried out for the last several years to evaluate the results of numerous undertakings for agricultural development, have led us to the conclusion that most of the failures in this field come from the fact that the programmes and plans have often been drawn up without taking into account the opinions and attitudes of the populations concerned: due to this, no support is obtained, sometimes causing reticence, or even arousing the hostility of the peasant masses. We have been able to prove that a systematic use of opinion surveys represents one of the factors essential to the success of the undertaking, enabling the planning to be adapted to the realities of the human milieu and to obtain support for its methods and objectives.
Amongst the most urgent and difficult problems to be solved today, without any doubt, is that of agricultural development and the success of planning in this field. The series of surveys that we have carried out for the last several years to evaluate the results of numerous undertakings for agricultural development, have led us to the conclusion that most of the failures in this field come from the fact that the programmes and plans have often been drawn up without taking into account the opinions and attitudes of the populations concerned: due to this, no support is obtained, sometimes causing reticence, or even arousing the hostility of the peasant masses. We have been able to prove that a systematic use of opinion surveys represents one of the factors essential to the success of the undertaking, enabling the planning to be adapted to the realities of the human milieu and to obtain support for its methods and objectives.
The paper argues that social research can have a revolutionary impact on planning and planning procedures - but only if the researcher himself is willing to stand out against the demands of the planner that social research inquiry should limit its domain to descriptive inquiries for the purpose of demand assessment.
This paper reviews the methods commonly used by market or commercial researchers to investigate the underlying motivations or determinants of choice. It comments on their validity and their suitability to social planning research. It is argued that social planning research has limited itself too frequently to factual information gathering and could usefully employ some of the techniques common in the commercial field. Reference is made to data currently being gathered and analysed concerned with recruitment to the army and decisions to remain in the army.