Basic Research in Action

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Abstract
An increasingly important component of society's response to the AIDS epidemic is the involvement of volunteers in caring for persons with AIDS. To understand this social phenomenon, we employed basic psychological theories in coordinated longitudinal and cross-sectional research on three stages of the volunteer process: antecedents of the decision to be a volunteer, experiences of volunteers and those with whom they work, and consequences for volunteers and for society. In this article, we draw upon portions of data collected from currently active AIDS volunteers to illustrate the linkages between basic research and practical problems. We discuss the ways that basic theory can both guide research on societally important issues and be informed by such research conducted in applied contexts. Finally, we relate our approach to the Lewinian tradition of action research.