Key Issues in Adoption Legislation

SUMMARY

This paper examines the underlying assumptions associated with two key areas of adoption legislation where there is variation across jurisdictions and calls for change. These legislative issues are consent and openness. In each area, there is very little social research which might otherwise offer insight into how to best formulate legislation in a way that would serve the needs of various members of the adoption experience. The primary goal of this paper is to consider key legal issues associated with consent and openness and make recommendations for how research might provide important information that could serve as guides for a legislative reevaluation of these areas.     

The role of critical social work education in improving ethical practice with refugees and asylum seekers

ABSTRACT

This paper uses critical reflection as its primary methodology to research one Master of Social Work student’s former practice experiences as an Australian immigration officer. The paper contextualizes the study by offering a critical analysis of hegemonic constructions of asylum seekers in Australia, which are reflected in Australian law and policy, as well as potentially influencing social work practice. Critical reflection on one of the author’s practice provides a rich case study that reveals the tensions of government-employed social workers in restrictive environments, and the espoused social justice values of the profession. The findings hold implications for both social work education and practice, suggesting that critical social work education, and in particular, the use of critical analysis and reflection, can improve ethical practice with refugees and asylum seekers.     

Collaboration and censorship in the oral history interview

The objective of this article is to highlight seldom considered aspects of the relationship between the researcher and the interviewee in feminist oral history research. As part of a study of the work of British women sociologists the researcher is undertaking a series of oral history interviews with retired academics. The attempts to follow social science ethical injections concerning the protection of human subjects and feminist injunctions to maximize subject collaboration and researcher reflexivity have raised several issues prior to, during and after the interviews. Issues of collaboration and censorship impinge on the research process at every stage of the work and, along with the personal and structural power relations of those involved, determine, in unanticipated ways, the final research product.     

Supervising Social Workers in Involuntary Contexts: Some Considerations

ABSTRACT

This article outlines areas for reflection for those providing supervision to social workers working in involuntary and semivoluntary contexts. This includes clinical implications, impacts on social work identity, and potential impacts on the supervisory relationship itself. It suggests that there are some areas that could be considered for discussion and exploration that may be different in focus to other types of supervisory practice, encouraging supervisors to consider their own approach in response to the issues raised.

IMPLICATIONS

• Working in involuntary contexts raises specific challenges in relation to power and authority in practice, as well as a range of ethical dilemmas.

• Supervisors might wish to consider the issues raised with a view to exploring with their supervisees how working with involuntary clients changes their framework or approach.

     

An extended briefing and debriefing technique to enhance data quality in cross-national/language mixed-method research

ABSTRACT

Mixed methods surveys using multilingual assistants in areas without clear pre-defined sampling units are often difficult to manage and unpredictable, thereby threatening data quality. More so when such surveys are executed in unfamiliar territories where cultural and language barriers prevent direct communication between the principal researcher and the respondents, and field assistants act as cultural/language brokers. This paper provides a method to enhance data quality in such contexts through a reflection on the research design and data collection experience in our study on flood damage mitigation processes among households and businesses in Kampala. Associated field challenges included different disciplinary and language skills levels of assistants, their multiple positionalities when translating concepts from the inquiry language to the source language and vice-versa, low settlement permeability/accessibility, multiple households per sampling unit, and socio-psychological issues among respondents and research assistants. The available literature lacks comprehensive systematic methods to address the challenges above, using detailed research fieldwork management experiences in which data collection is outsourced from field assistants. Our application of an extended version of the briefing and debriefing technique closes this gap. As a guide to apply this approach, we conceptualize social science research into four inter-related dimensions – paradigm, people, process, and presentation.     

Conducting research using web-based questionnaires: Practical,methodological, and ethical considerations

The use of the internet for social science research is becoming increasingly common. This paper outlines practical, methodological and ethical issues for researchers to consider when using web-based questionnaires. This is illustrated by consideration of the authors' own experience of conducting a study into the phenomenon of self-harm.     

Researching religion: The vocation of the sociologist of religion

This paper reflects on the vocation or 'calling' of the researcher in the sociology of religion in the light of his experiences of researching transformations in English Catholicism in the last quarter of the twentieth century. It takes as its starting point Weber's two essays. A consideration of religious perspectives on the lay vocation leads to an evaluation of the advantages and disadvantages of insider research. The paper reflects on research mistakes, threats and attempts to co-opt the researcher, unexpected surprises and serendipity, and the need for the social scientist to retain control of his/her research. It concludes with inspiration from Havel that the calling of the sociological researcher is socially important and urges renewed commitment to seeking with integrity the extension of certified knowledge and the demystification of powerful institutional structures.     

Using Visual Art Workshops with Female Survivors of Domestic Violence in Portugal and England: A Comparative Reflection

ABSTRACT

This paper provides a reflection on the use of visual art workshops in an interdisciplinary feminist project with female survivors of domestic violence living in refuges in England and Portugal. The paper discusses the fieldwork in each location with attention to the interaction between participants, between participants and the researcher/s, and the cultural and institutional structures influencing the research and the images produced. Despite some key differences in the context, the analysis highlights key resonances and commonalities amongst the objects that survivors of domestic abuse depicted in each location. We use the feminist notion of ‘giving voice’ as an analytical tool throughout the paper. The paper argues that ‘giving voice’ was not unproblematically accomplished by using visual methods and suggests that our understanding remained partial and often reliant on verbal narratives accompanying the visual images produced. We also highlight issues of power emerging when exhibiting art generated through the study.     

Preparing the next generation of researchers

This paper examines the needs of new and future social work researchers in the light of the overall aims of this particular project. The author is an aspiring ‘new’ researcher and will examine her own personal experience, to date, of being part of a postgraduate research programme in order to clarify how we might best ensure that the next generation of researchers can contribute to the strategy which is being developed. The paper reviews the author's experience of research training to test its adequacy in preparing the next generation to meet the demands required and in consideration of current professional develop ments around social work and social care. The paper will also consider who will be the members of this next generation and how the future agenda for the profession might potentially contribute to the development of a sound professional knowledge base and also influence the wider social science debate. The conclusions of this paper will draw together a number of key issues that have been highlighted so far and give a perspective on these which links values, knowledge and skills in ways which might usefully promote further debate and constructive resolution.     

Book reviews

The need to provide an evaluation of policy implementation is an integral part of almost all work carried out by organizations. Accordingly, many social science researchers will undertake some form of evaluation work during their careers. For many, this task will prove relatively unproblematic. However, for some, evaluation research may pose a number of difficulties. This reflexive article explores one area of concern, focusing as it does on some of the consequences and problems that emerge when researchers undertaking evaluations become involved in the consequences of their work.     

The work to make an experiment work

ABSTRACT

Contrary to its typical presentation in scientific publications as a certain and linear process, in reality, the experimental method, not least the design aspect of it, requires a great deal of trial-and-error and ad hoc decision-making on the part of the researchers. This uncertain and contingent aspect of research, although little known outside of the circle of experts, has important implications for our understanding of the nature of science and scientific findings.

This paper offers a backstage perspective to experiment design, where the uncertain and contingent nature of experimental research is at its starkest. It draws on insights from the sociological perspective of ethnomethodology through the auto-ethnographic first-hand experience of the first author's own social psychology experiments. Based on detailed lab notes and planning documents on how and why design changes were made, the analysis focuses on the evolution of the experiment design, particularly the researcher’s in situ practical reasoning for how to make the experiment work. From this, we show how ethno-methods shape experiment results and highlight the inseparability of social science experimentation from in situ practical reasoning.     

Researching an-'other' minority ethnic community: Reflections of a black female researcher on the intersections of race,gender and other power positions on the research process

There is a dearth of discussion on the methodological dilemmas faced by minority ethnic researchers who research minority ethnic communities of which they are not a part. The paper explores the political and ethical issues involved in a black woman researching South Asian women's lives, analysing the research process, and focusing on issues of choice of research group, access and placing. This paper represents a reflexive account of the research relationships developed in longitudinal qualitative doctoral research between a black (of African descent) postgraduate student and sample of 19 South Asian female student teachers in England and draws on literature of women interviewing women and ethnic or 'race' matched research. The methods employed were documentary analysis, observing meetings, a focus group, two student questionnaires, one-to-one interviews with staff and group and one-to-one interviews with South Asian female student teachers. It is argued that whilst social characteristics such as gender, language, religion and culture are important in determining notions of commonality and difference, a shared experience of racism between the researched and the researcher may affect the research relationship most significantly.     

The curious case of case study: a viewpoint

Abstract

This paper focuses on microethical issues concerning interactions in which the process of informed consent occurs. It draws on research analysing the biographies and future hopes of 15- to 17-year-old girls and boys participating in targeted youth/educational programmes in the Helsinki area. The ethical challenge explored here is how to negotiate with the young interviewees on expanding the research setting towards a longitudinal and cross-generational approach, which also means expanding the data produced on their already well-reported lives. The paper highlights the power relations between adult researcher and young research participant, the contextual nature of gaining informed consent, and the conflict involved in trying to avoid hounding an over-surveilled group while still tracking their whereabouts and revisiting them for a follow-up interview.     

Political elites and the pragmatic paradigm: Notes from a feminist researcher - in the field and out to lunch

This essay seeks to offer some reflections on doing research with political elites where those elites also happen to be women. It tries to show some of the excitements and frustrations of doing research with elite subjects in elite settings, when the researcher is always the stranger and the person with the least power in an otherwise very powerful and intimidating environment. It addresses some of the tensions in 'doing' feminist research with women with whom the researcher does not empathize and discusses the extent to which those differences actually matter when ranged against the much bigger considerations of gender and patriarchal relations.     

The value of event history techniques for understanding social processes: Modelling women's employment behaviour after motherhood

Over the last two decades there has been an increase in the longitudinal data available to social scientists, and this has been accompanied by the development of concepts and tools which allow for a rigorous approach to empirical research. However, there is still an appreciable gap between the methodological innovations within the field of applied statistics and the everyday practice of the majority of social scientists. The aim of this paper is therefore to demonstrate some of the advantages of using event history data to underpin our understanding of social processes. In particular, the paper explores the benefits of using SABRE (Software for the analysis of binary recurrent events, developed at the University of Lancaster) as a tool for carrying out event history analysis. The specific advantage of this software is that it allows the researcher to focus on duration effects or temporal dependencies in the social process under investigation. The substantive focus of the paper is the way in which women manage to combine paid employment with motherhood. Analyses are based on data from women's life histories, collected as part of the fifth sweep of the National Child Development Survey carried out in 1991. Within this paper, the primary focus is on the conceptual issues raised by modelling event history data; statistical terminology and notation has been kept to a minimum.     

The Social Policy Context of the Norma Parker Addresses

Abstract

Little is currently known about the social policy history and activism of the Australian Association of Social Workers. This paper addresses that gap in knowledge by examining the social policy context and Australian Association of Social Workers policy activism identified in 20 Norma Parker Addresses from 1969 to 2012. A number of key themes are identified including a concern that social workers take a structural or social justice approach to policy debates, a belief that social workers should be more prominent in policy activism, challenges or barriers to social work activism, and a growing engagement with Indigenous issues. Further research on the detail and history of Australian Association of Social Workers policy activism beyond this exploratory study is recommended.     

There are no Answers,Only Choices: Teaching Ethical Decision Making in Social Work

Abstract

In teaching students about ethical decision making in social work, it is essential that the students are able to recognise the moral implications of their work and develop a deep understanding about ethical issues and their personal responsibility for making ethical choices. Thus, more than a “how to do it” approach is needed and teaching students about values and ethics is an essential thread that runs through our experience-based social work education program. The present paper describes a learning unit that sought to teach students about ethical decision making as a critical thinking process and, in so doing, to integrate students’ knowledge and experience of values, ethics, policy, and research in the final year of study. The relationship between values, ethics, policy, research, and social work practice provided an ideal context within which students could learn to integrate their knowledge and experience and apply it directly to their fieldwork practice. The paper ends with our critical reflection on this teaching experience and a critique of decisionist ethical frameworks.     

Social work online: a recognition of experiences and practices in Italy

ABSTRACT

‘The Internet is the fabric or our lives’ [Castells, M. (2001). The Internet Galaxy: Reflections on the Internet, Business, and Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 1] – but which are the weaves that nowadays connect Italian social workers into such a fabric? Herein we aim at answering this question through a survey of on-line resources, nodes and practices of e-Social Work in Italy. We shall be discussing ICT impact on the Italian context, and the utilization of ICT by Italian social workers, in order to build up the internal and external factors that determine the current utilization levels of these emerging tools within the professional community. A review of the major on-line social work portals will identify their key features and peculiarities and aim to provide an overview of the substance and current on-line functions of Italian social work, with a summing-up of criticalities and opportunities that might prompt reflection on possible future developments.     

The personal is political: a feminist reflection on a journey into participatory arts-based research with sex worker migrants in South Africa

ABSTRACT

This article offers a personal reflection of my journey into participatory arts-based research with sex work migrants in South Africa. It begins by sharing some background information of how my own experience as a migrant woman, and my layered (sometimes conflicted) identities, have continued to shape and influence much of my scholarly work, including my commitment to engaging in research that supports (or at least tries to support) social justice. Through this article, I offer an example of how the ‘personal is political’ is entwined in feminist values of research and engagement. Those who experience the issues under investigation must be considered equal partners in research processes. Collaborative forms of knowledge production can support social justice, particularly if efforts strive to shift the centre from which knowledge is traditionally generated and disseminated.     

Looking for elderly people´s needs: teaching critical reflection in Swedish social work education

ABSTRACT

This paper focuses on how to use critical reflection in social work education in order to encourage students to critically reflect on their standards regarding assessment, opinions and values about aging. Material, both oral and written, from needs assessments of older persons conducted by 106 social work students was analyzed. The result shows that the students initially interpreted needs based on prejudice and assumptions about aging. However, when using Schön´s three steps of reflection in the exercise, together with knowledge of critical social work theories, students became more concerned and reflected more critically on their assessments. This study shows the possibilities of working with pedagogical exercises in order to increase the awareness and critical knowledge of social work students in order to attempt to reduce discrimination. Educating students in critical social work enables them to learn how to comment on and transform the profession of social work and our unjust society, while questioning their own as well as society’s prejudice regarding the needs of elderly persons.