Developing the social work researcher through a practitioner research training programme

As part of its core programme, the Centre for Child Care Research at Queen's University, Belfast, Department of Social Work is developing a Practitioner Research Training Programme for social workers interested in undertaking applied research. A survey was undertaken to assess the research literacy and competency of the social work profession as well as interest and desire to learn by undertaking research training. The findings produced useful insights into the value of such a programme and offered a contribution to the more global debate on the development of practitioner-researcher partnerships for creating a research base within the profession.     

The research pendulum: multiple roles and responsibilities as a researcher

Qualitative research on sexual identities has highlighted the use of oral narratives to understand the lives of lesbians and gay men. Feminist ethnographers, sociologists and queer theorists have further posed methodological inquiries to the issues of insider/outsider, the possibilities of an erotic subject and the matter of representation. Using interview data with Hong Kong lesbians, this paper discusses a researcher's multiple positionalities and its effects on both the researched and the researcher. Being self-reflexive requires a researcher to test her or his own boundaries and to take up social responsibilities as the interpreter of texts. This paper calls for further dialogue between a researcher's subject positions, research processes and the final presentation of findings. doi:10.1300/J155v10n03_02.     

Problem formulation in practitioner and researcher partnerships: A decade of experience at the Center for the Study of Social Work Practice

This article examines social work research problem formulation in the context of practitioner and researcher partnerships. The analysis draws from a decade of experience at the Center for the Study of Social Work Practice. The Center was established to bring university faculty together with agency practitioners to conduct practice research. This organizational partnership between a university and a social agency has resulted in a decade of experimentation on how this partnership can facilitate social work practice knowledge development. This article describes the studies conducted at the Center with specific attention to how research problem formulation has been influenced by the university and agency partners.     

Reflection note: confessions of a Muslim researcher – considering identity in research

ABSTRACT

This research note explores some of the contentions that have emerged from Muslim-on-Muslim research and how this can implicate the researcher more personally. Speaking in the context of methodological concerns arising from qualitative research, the paper consider the following aspects: inappropriate access of participants, over-representation of own experiences, and questioning fundamental parts of your identity. Whilst certain experiences can shake the foundations of being a researcher and even sense of self, these should ultimately be welcomed. It is concluded that, in taking the time to reconcile from such tensions emerging from our multiple identities, it can allow for becoming a more rigorous and reflexive researcher.     

Critical humanism for public relations: Harnessing the synergy of gender,race and sexuality research

In the age of the Anthropocene, PR research has a role to play in making sense of and working to heal the widespread suffering of human and non-human beings. Public relations scholars have an ethical responsibility to work toward structural, systemic social change that reconciles suffering. Drawing from contemporary critical theories, we weave three strands of theory – critical feminism, critical theories of race, and queer theories – to carve out a theoretical trajectory in social justice guided by critical humanism. Critical humanism illuminates the subjugation and resistance of historically marginalized individuals and groups, attending to the influence of structures and institutions that underpin norms of whiteness, cisnormativity, and heterosexuality.     

Middle class identities in a neoliberal age: tensions between contested authenticities

This paper explores in‐depth interviews on aspects of middle class identity in a neoliberal age, taking the case of Chile's rapid and stark transition to a neoliberal economic model which was imposed by a dictatorship but later reproduced during democracy. ¹ The paper reveals that there are no challenges to middle class identities (eg from the working class, or peasants). In this respect, these are neo‐liberal middle class identities in that their way of thinking is preconditioned by market dominance. Informed by Bourdieu's views on class identities, this article emphasises the horizontal, non‐hierarchical nature of contemporary class taste, and contributes to debates on stratification and culture, settling accounts with older class theory which perceives contests between the popular and middle classes. Notwithstanding this, however, I argue that processes of horizontal differentiation do involve tensions between cultural and moral boundaries. This article therefore also offers an alternative approach for exploring how middle class identities experience processes of individualization. It is argued that individualization processes should be placed in social and ethical registers as they could be in tension with various ways of understanding authenticity: being true to oneself or to one's origins.     

Media relations in Korea: Cheong between journalist and public relations practitioner

This study applied the concept of Cheong – the fundamental foundation for Korean relationships – to analyze the relationship between journalists and PR practitioners in Korea. Research drew on in-depth interviews with 10 pairs of journalists and practitioners. Most respondents said they felt Cheong through common encounters and that Cheong provided a positive force for their interaction.     

Revealing disjunctures: Making tensions between fetal alcohol spectrum disorder diagnoses and institutional supports visible

Institutional ethnography (IE) is a method of inquiry that offers emancipatory possibilities. This paper reveals how IE's emancipatory value is linked to identifying and examining disjunctures, which are discrepancies and disconnections between what is understood to be happening versus what is actually being experienced. Using examples from an IE study that examined the social organization of supports and services for children medically diagnosed with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) in an urban community in eastern Canada, four specific disjunctures are revealed and discussed. These disjunctures make various disconnections between school-aged children diagnosed with FASD and institutional supports visible. Furthermore, I illustrate how the ambiguity of institutional policies and communication makes it difficult for children living with FASD to thrive. This study also reveals how caregivers are required to be FASD experts while not being seen or treated as experts. By uncovering and making disjunctures visible, I argue that IE studies can draw evidence-based attention to specific institutional policies and practices that are missing or require change.     

Engaging with families in child protection: lessons from practitioner research in Scotland

This paper reports findings from practitioner-led research on engagement with families in the child protection system in Scotland. Engagement is here defined in a participative sense, to mean the involvement of family members in shaping social work processes. Key findings include the importance of workers building trusting relationships; the value of honest and clear communication, information, and explanation; and the potential for formal structures such as reports and meetings to hinder family engagement. These findings contribute to a growing critique of managerialism in social work.     

Contemporizing teaching case management: mapping the tensions

ABSTRACT

Case management is experiencing a major evolution that involves the isolation of its roles and the compartmentalization of its functions. As educators, it is challenging to keep track of these changes and to equip students for contemporary practice. Five social work academics from three educational institutions undertook a co-operative inquiry into the research question; ‘What are the tensions within the contemporary human and community services environment that are influencing the teaching of case management?’ The inquiry examined the dominant tensions between social work case management and the contexts within case management is practiced. The shifting and shifty nature of case management and personalization approaches in the quasi-market emerged as key themes. Finally, we reflected on how our teaching practices equip students to deal credibly and courageously with the global and local trends that are currently influencing case management.     

Working with emotion: Issues for the researcher in fieldwork and teamwork

This paper addresses the role of emotion in the qualitative research process and in particular, the effects of emotional experiences on the researcher. Drawing briefly on the literature, we show the importance of emotion for understanding the research process. Whilst this literature acknowledges the emotional risk for research respondents, there is little evidence providing in-depth understanding of the emotions of the researcher. We consider theoretically and empirically, the significance of emotion throughout the duration of a research project. Using our own personal experiences in the field, we present a range of emotional encounters that qualitative researchers may face. We offer suggestions for research teams who wish to develop strategies for 'managing' emotion and effectively utilizing 'emotionally-sensed knowledge'. We conclude that unless emotion in research is acknowledged, not only will researchers be left vulnerable, but also our understandings of the social world will remain impoverished. The challenge therefore is how to construct meaning and develop understanding and knowledge in an academic environment that, on the whole, trains researchers to be rational and objective, and 'extract out' emotion.     

NGO2.0 and social media praxis: activist as researcher

This article tracks the emergence of a particular brand of ICT activism that promotes the use of social media as a means of helping Chinese NGOs break out of their communication bottleneck. The author starts by introducing NGO2.0, an activist project targeting China's rural regions, using it as an entry point to examine the practice of “social media for social good” and shed light on the ecosystem of social media usage by Chinese NGOs. The author also deliberates on the explanatory value of the binary paradigm of “rural vs. urban,” looks into the methodological implications of undertaking “social media action research,” and articulates what it means to be engaged in the hybrid practice of “activist as scholar” in the specific context of Cultural Studies.     

Forensic, cultural, and systems issues in child sexual abuse cases--part 2: research and practitioner issues

This article introduces the second issue of the special double issue focusing on forensic, cultural, and systems issues in child sexual abuse cases. We briefly review the articles, which include a discussion of child sexual abuse myths, an empirical analysis of extended child sexual abuse evaluations, an article on the role of the medical provider in child sexual abuse evaluations, a study of satisfaction levels with multidisciplinary teams in child advocacy centers, and a commentary advocating for the credentialing of forensic interviewers. We call for further empirical examination of media related to child sexual abuse risk, research on appropriate models for extended sexual abuse interviews and evaluations, and optimal practices relevant to each member of multidisciplinary teams in a child advocacy center.     

Qualitative bereavement research: incongruity between the perspectives of participants and research ethics boards

A central feature of the majority of qualitative research is the interactive nature of data collection which generally involves direct and meaningful communication between the individuals conducting the research and the individuals participating in the research. This core aspect of data collection, however, is frequently flagged as the most concerning or potentially harmful aspect of qualitative bereavement research by research ethics boards. Further, there has been a tendency to conceptualize the bereaved as vulnerable and in need of protection in the research process. Instead of thinking that a research interview which explores the complex, personal issues of grief would potentially harm participants, it may be seen as potentially beneficial to participants when the therapeutic aspects of the interview are considered. Participants’ responses to the interview process in two bereavement studies are offered as illustrations to complement the literature on the potential for the researcher‐participant relationship and the research interview to be perceived as beneficial by bereavement research participants.