The urgency of current social problems such as drug abuse presents the social scientist and his clients with an apparent dilemma Programs of social remediation which are hastily undertaken without the benefit of research often flounder after an initial burst of energy because they are based on romantic notions rather than on real knowledge. But, on the other hand, good research into these problems is usually time-consuming and expensive—particularly when the problem under investigation is neither well understood nor even well defined. Research is rendered even more difficult when there is a requisite need to understand the specific culture or subculture within which the social problem is operative before the social scientist can begin to ask (let alone seek answers to) relevant questions.
