professions. Where to take hold, what is truly meaningful in terms I of social work values and goals, where to sink the shaft of inquiry, I are difficult questions. And yet the decision to move in one I direction rather than in others carries with it long range commitments and consequences. It is something like digging a well. How I accurately one can predict that there is water under the surface profoundly affects the outcome of what may be an enormous effort.The possibilities are all too numerous: the color of the paint on the walls of the meeting room, the time of the day and of the year, thepsychodynamic history of each of the members, the rise and fall of international crises, the rate of unemployment, the number of aggressive acts by the members, the stage of the groups develop¬ment, how the group was formed, the handling of conflict, patterns of decision making - these and many other variables could be studied and theories could be developed about them. What guide-lines are available for deciding where to take hold? This should not be a capricious decision. Intellectual adventuring has its risks.Not only is there a bewildering array of variables as suggested above,but the potential approaches to theory building present difficult decisions. One could consider (as our Committee did) the ; nature of theory, the definition of constructs, concepts, principles and systems. Another question is whether there are organized steps through which theory building must go...

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