I hope that you will excuse a relative newcomer to this field and a spectroscopist for presenting his views, which may be somewhat different than those of others. I would like to enumerate the aims of research on visual systems and the needs of the field, particularly for spectroscopic data, as I see them.

I. Aims of Multiple-Star Astronomy. (1). Statistics of multiple systems. We would like to know the fraction of stars that are visually double, triple, etc. and in each case as a function of spectral type. For instance, is the frequency of visual doubles the same for Population II stars as for Population I stars? Or are the frequencies of visual doubles the same for stars off the main sequence as for their antecedents on the main sequence? For such information a negative result on duplicity is as important as a positive result, i.e. we wish to know which stars are not seen to be visually double as well as which ones are seen as doubles.