ABSTRACT
The difference between original research and routine work lies only in that the former deals with original problems or with original approaches to old problems, whereas routine work is concerned with routine problems, i.e. with problems of a known kind approached in a known way. Problems are the spring of scientific activity and the level of research are measured by the size of the problems it handles. In modern science the choice of problem clusters or research lines is, in turn, determined by various factors, such as the intrinsic interest of the problem as determined by the state of knowledge at the time, and instrumental and pecuniary facilities. If the goal of research is practical rather than cognitive, but the background and the tools are scientific, then the problem is one in applied science or technology rather than in pure science. The class of scientific problems—itself a subclass of the problems of knowledge—may be analyzed in various ways.
