ABSTRACT
The observer or actor in a risky situation will perceive a variation in potential outcomes which are known to him and he will have certain beliefs about the probability of the outcomes occurring: he will therefore feel uncertain. The real risk is that which is eventually determined or revealed by circumstances as they develop. It is represented by the gap between the expected or predicted outcome and the actual outcome. At the point at which real risk becomes manifest, it is no longer a risk but is described as a loss. To place a mentally handicapped child with foster parents is taking a risk. Statistical risk can be derived from the data about realized risk. The idea of an inductive approach bears some relationship to the idea of perceived risk, as seen intuitively by individuals. Social-work decision research has, on the whole, reflected the ambiguity and uncertainty of risk in the real world, although with some important limitations.
