ABSTRACT
All science is abstract in the sense that in a scientific investigation certain relevant elements are abstracted from the total situation. Although the total situation in this study was a single school it was extensive and complex. For example, it contained more than six hundred participants, pupils and staff, giving rise to nearly one hundred and eighty thousand possible interactions. * In this kind of situation it is necessary to delimit the field in order to make an investigation possible. This investigation therefore centred on the values and school involvement of about half the pupils. In doing this a number of what Devons and Gluckman (1964) call ‘naive assumptions’ were made about the non-social factors that may influence a pupil's values and involvement, principally their individual psychological traits.
