CHAPTER XX1V. 
that or some other office which has conducted a successful enquiry. We 
do not doubt that any such office will gladly co-operate in assisting 
accredited investigators as far as it can. Differences in language and 
customs may make it impossible for one enquiry to employ all the 
methods that have been successful in another, but the chief difficul- 
ties are, we think, common to all industrial centres. Only an inves- 
tigator qualified by training and by the possession of a large 
amount of tact and patience can hope to be successful anywhere. The 
Bombay Office has found that for enquiries of the kind under discussion, 
women investigators are preferable, if not essential, and this will be 
true in most industrial areas. It is from the woman in the family 
that information has generally to be secured, and it is more easily 
secured and tested by a woman investigator. 
Sampling. 
Equal in importance to the employment of qualified investi- 
gators is the adoption of sound statistical methods, and in any extensive 
enquiry careful sampling is of cardinal importance. If accurate informa- 
tion is required regarding any class of persons, and if it is impossible to 
collect particulars from all, it is essential that the cases selected for inves- 
tigation should be thoroughly representative. The collection of a series 
of family budgets selected on no scientific basis cannot possibly yield 
results of any statistical value. It would be superfluous to emphasise 
so obvious a principle were cases not numerous in which it has been 
ignored. The only alternative to sampling is the intensive enquiry, 
i.e., an enquiry covering the whole of a strictly limited field. Thus, for 
example, the budgets of all (or nearly all) of the workers in a particular 
group could be collected ; and we consider that small-scale enquiries 
of this kind would serve a useful purpose. 
Other Enquiries. 
The subjects discussed by us are by no means the only ones 
on which information is required. In almost every direction the field is 
practically unexplored. So far as the standard of living is concerned, 
only part of the work is done when particulars of income and expendi- 
ture have been secured. Connected with this thereisa host of questions 
awaiting investigation, such as the incidence of sickness, migration, 
absenteeism, industrial fatigue, etc. The scientific study of the human 
problems of industry has scarcely begun in India, and the loss which has 
arisen from this neglect is evident. 
Universities and Private Investigators. 
We now come to the share of the task which should be under- 
taken by the various agencies that are available. These may be divided 
into three classes—official agencies, employers and others. Dealing with 
the last first, substantial assistance can be claimed from the universi- 
ties. Other possible agencies are social and religious workers and private 
economists and students. We believe that all these agencies would 
do well to limit themselves to intensive enquiries, 4.e., to the thorough