Some Aspects of Morbidity Surveys

Morbidity surveys must be included among newer applications of the social sciences. The contribution made to human welfare by the social sciences is exemplified by such pioneer work as that of Simon and Chadwick on the sanitary conditions of the working classes, of Booth and Bowley on the extent and causes of poverty, and of Cathcart and Orr on the prevalence of undernutrition. Social investigations have had an influential effect on public and official opinion and have been the direct or indirect cause of social planning and legislation over a wide field. The data obtainable from morbidity surveys may well be equally influential in regard to the health services of the nation.