61 FOUR Mapping social work research This chapter opens by introducing something of what we know about the actual research that takes place in social work. I will suggest that social work research should be distinguished in terms of the primary substantive focus of the research and the primary problem focus. I will illustrate this from research by university- based researchers, service-user researchers, and practitioner researchers. I will consider differences associated with the gender of social work researchers, and then illustrate the nature of networks
151 EIGHT Doing good social work research After setting out the tensions and challenges endemic to social work research, I will spend a substantial part of this chapter looking at what we may learn from social work controversies. I will develop in detail one area, perhaps unfamiliar to readers, where dispute and debate has occurred, and draw conclusions regarding how we ought to manage controversy. Finally, I will touch on three general topics: • The essential limits of science in social work. • The misuses of science. • The principles and practices that
This book explores the rationale, methodologies, and results of arts-based approaches in social work research today.
It is the first dedicated analysis of its kind, providing practical examples of when to choose arts-based research, how the arts are used by social work researchers and integrated with additional methods, and ways to evaluate its efficacy. The multiple examples of arts-based research in social work in this book reveal how arts methods are inherently connected to the resilience and creativity of research participants, social workers, and social work researchers.
With international contributions from experts in their fields, this is a welcome overview of the arts in social work for anyone connected to the field.
PART II Applying the critical gerontological lens to social work research, policy and practice
realise that this may sound indulgent, even lazy, but I am endeavouring to talk about how a commitment to social work research and to collaboration with others has worked out for me. I hesitated before taking this on, not only partly because it is not possible to avoid echoing things I have said elsewhere, but also because while relationships with social work and social science colleagues across the world have been a stimulus and indeed a pleasure, I do not think I have given serious thought to what this might mean for the social work community as a whole. Mark Hardy
is possible to highlight points that could be helpful for today’s social work researchers. First, to what extent are academic teaching-learning programmes (including placement programmes) oriented in a way that promote critical reflection through direct contact of students with the reality of migrants and asylum seekers? To what extent does this extend to social work research? Second, to what extent do academia, public institutions and NGOs contribute to developing cross-cutting skills and competences that are essential for social workers in their relationship
169 Critical and Radical Social Work • vol 4 • no 2 • 169–83 • © Policy Press 2016 • #CRSW Print ISSN 2049 8608 • Online ISSN 2049 8675 • http://dx.doi.org/10.1332/204986016X14651166264273 Accepted for publication 12 April 2016 • First published online 07 June 2016 article Reflections and challenges of international social work research Gary Spolander, g.spolander@coventry.ac.uk Coventry University, UK Maria Lucia Teixeira Garcia, lucia-garcia@uol.com.br Espírito Santo Federal University, Brazil Clemente Penalva, clemente.penalva@ua.es Alicante University
3 ONE What is social work research? Through this chapter, we will set out what seems feasible by way of describing the nature of social work and its linked research. We will then step back to say that, if we are to have a clear sense of what ‘research’ means, both in general and in our own field, we need to think what ‘science’ means. This will include a brief consideration of the relationship between ‘science’ and ‘art.’ Following from that, we will ask the curious question – curious because it seems strange but also because it encourages curiosity – of
81 FIVE Social work research over time This chapter falls near the middle of the book and is central to the arguments developed and positions taken throughout. We will work through the influence of our general worldview on how we see social work, asking the extent to which we may confidently know about our history. We will sketch out some of the current trends that feed into this. Turning our gaze to the past, we briefly demonstrate how the ways we write and speak about research have changed. We give significant space to the role of experimentation in
Introduction In the first part of this article, we explore the notion of social innovation. Since this is an ambiguous and thereby contested notion, we should be clear about what it means and decide about its usefulness for social work research. Then, we reflect on the normative stand of social work research, stating that in line with the international definition of social work, our research should contribute to the mission described there. We argue that our research can neither be acontextual nor apolitical, and, in fact, that this can be considered a great
