Research as a Social Process

The activity of social research has been much discussed in recent years. It is examined here as a social process, with special attention to the participation of different groups of people. Four modes of doing research are identified. The framework accommodates and shows close relationships between established modes of research which generally have been seen to be substantially different. At the same time it includes modes which are more participatory in character and which have important implications for undertaking research, the development of theory, and the functioning of social groups, including society.     

Constructivism in Social Work: Towards a Participative Practice Viability

Summary Social work has traditionally drawn upon an expansive rangeof social science research and theorizing as its claim upona ‘knowledge base’. Recent debates have exploredthe need for the profession to develop its own theory of socialwork knowledge arising from practice. This paper seeks to extendthe boundaries of these ideas through an operational and epistemologicalelaboration and critique of Sheppard's (1995a; 1998) notionof a practice paradigm. In an examination of the contributionof constructivism and the seminal work of George Kelly's (1955)Psychology of Personal Constructs, arguments are put forwardfor social work practice to focus upon the co-construction ofviable working relationships with service users as the basisfor an anti-oppressive and participative professionalism. Itargues that the sterile philosophical dichotomies between objectivism/realism-subjectivism/interpretivismand the equally unhelpful social work division between practice-theoryshould be integrated within a situated, participatory, constructivistapproach to knowledge creation in social work practice and continuingprofessional development.     

Young people act as consultants in child‐directed research: an action research study in Iceland

This paper evaluates an action research study, conducted in Iceland, which involved young service users as consultants to the research. We used participatory group work methods to activate the young people's knowledge and guide social workers in developing their practice. The young people's advice influenced the data generation and analysis, guided the action intervention and contributed to the evaluation. Their emphasis on the quality of relationships and attention to children's concerns was crucial in developing the concept of child‐directed practice.     

Improving utilisation of Māori land: Challenges and successes in the application of a participatory approach

Abstract

The limited impact of traditional extension techniques has resulted in the increasing use of participatory approaches to support interaction between Māori communities and scientists. This paper draws on the experience of a 5 year case study of such an approach among scientists and Māori on the East Cape. While supporting the value of a participatory approach, the paper argues that the adoption and use of such an approach must be viewed as an iterative process and one that challenges all participants, not only on operational detail, but on the ethical issues posed by such work. This paper highlights the value of a collaborative approach but questions the appropriateness of branding all such approaches as participatory research when used to support national policy initiatives. It concludes that participatory approaches challenge the scientists involved as much as the communities concerned and questions the validity of conventional measures of success in any evaluation of such work.     

Loglinear Analysis in Social Work Research

Loglinear analysis is a method of statistical analysis that is used when all the variables of interest are categorical. The method has had wide use in the social sciences, but has not been used extensively in social work research. Loglinear analysis has several advantages over less appropriate methods that tend to be used frequently in social work research. Among the most important of those advantages is the capability of accounting for multicollinearity among variables; multiple bivariate tests cannot detect such relationships and may thus produce distorted and misleading results. This article explains the appropriate uses of loglinear analysis, describes briefly the calculations involved, and finally illustrates applications of the method.     

Ask a Silly Question,Get a Silly Answer

ABSTRACT

Careful attention is required to one's entry into community development work. The formation and continued support of genuinely participatory working relationships are essential. These must be given the time and creation of trust to establish and be tested. This requires making sure that the needs of the community (as they see them) are sensitively regarded and integrated within the action plan that they have helped to create, along with the skills and whatever the person(s) bringing development assistance services can realistically contribute. This ought to be obvious, but in practice many things frequently seem to be missed and can go wrong, especially when people cross cultures from the West and enter a Third World situation to “help.” This article identifies and gives illustrations (some of which engage children) of some important fine points of the participatory process, providing some flesh to the bones of our social work development values and theory.     

中国作家与印度文化的因缘关系值得研究——兼谈《佛心梵影——中国作家与印度文化》一书的写作

中国作家与印度文化的因缘关系的研究，是比较文学立场上的跨文化研究。从这一角度对上千年来中国涉及印度的有关作家作品进行较为系统的梳理与评述，可以打通文史界限，打破虚构性作品与非虚构性作品的界限，揭示中国作家对印度的客观的研究记述与主观的情感想象之间的内在联系，呈现中国文学中的印度形象，进一步确认印度文化对中国作家的深刻影响。     

Participatory social work and report writing

Participation of children and parents is a central notion in child and family social work. This paper reports on a research dealing with how the participative paradigm comes to the fore in the practice of report writing in the work with looked-after children. As social work is essentially a language-centred activity, report writing is a core skill in social work. A participative practice of report writing would imply that the perspective of the children and parents is present in the reports. The results of our research show that a participatory approach to writing reports is not self-evident. On the one hand, the practice of report writing shows a big diversity in the way the client's perspectives are given attention. On the other hand, the incorporation of the client's voice does not necessarily stand for a participatory approach because it may be used to strengthen professional views rather than clarify clients' perspectives. The case is made in such a way that a participatory approach of child and family social work demands more attention to the practice of writing reports.     

A children's space? Participation in multi‐agency early intervention

The common assessment framework provides a model of early intervention, which is familiar in local authorities throughout England, and asserts a participatory framework of child and family engagement. This article draws on data from a research project undertaken in 1 local authority in the Midlands of England, to explore the experiences of children, young people, and their families, who were engaged in the process of multi‐agency early intervention. The article considers the young people's involvement, including their accounts of attending common assessment framework meetings, and their engagement by practitioners. The research found that young people's participation was limited. The findings suggest that this is, in part, a response to disciplinary discourses around schooling and attendance. In addition, the narratives of parents and young people showed that under‐resourcing of work with young people meant that the time taken to build relationships and engage them in a process of self‐assessment, planning, and decision making was constrained and rationed. The article concludes that to achieve a participatory children's space, an active and more engaged model of childhood needs to be facilitated by practitioners and parents outside the school‐dominated space found in this study.     

A Commentary on David Drucker's “Ask a Silly Question,Get a Silly Answer

ABSTRACT

This commentary views Drucker's paper as an example of practitioner research aimed both at developing a stronger evidence base for the profession, and promoting a form of thinking useful to Western social work practice. Links are also drawn between the ideas expressed in “Ask a Silly Question” and participatory social work in several non-Western parts of the world.     

Outcome evaluation in host organizations: a research agenda

The organizational context in which social work is practiced is viewed as an important factor in evaluating the outcomes of social work interventions. In host organizations, the context includes forces outside the department. The author offers a framework for developing a research agenda aimed at assessing the effectiveness of social work interventions in those organizations. The author demonstrates such an agenda with reference to hospital social work. Different types of outcomes and the relationships between them are considered at both the correlational and causal levels of knowledge. Examples of research assessing these outcomes are presented, and the implications of various types of findings are considered.     

Importance of Research in Social Work Practice: A Pilot Study From Turkey

Abstract

It is highly important that social work practice be guided by scientific research and the resultant practices introduced to the literature. Social work research in Turkey is carried out by social work academics and practitioners. This dual position they occupy has not been thoroughly investigated in recent years; therefore, the aim of this research was to scrutinize the relationship social workers take when completing research in Turkey. Within the scope of this research, data were collected by conducting an online survey of 365 social workers. Results of the study show that 45.8% of the social workers have conducted research before. Nonetheless, 93.7% of the social work practitioners do feel the need to carry out scientific research in order to shape their professional practices. Considering these results, future research should concentrate on social work practitioners’ problems taking into account their dual position as both the producer and consumer of the research.     

Balancing Scientific and Community Interests in Community-Based Participatory Research

Community-based participatory research is an approach to studying human populations that emphasizes extensive partnerships between researchers and community members. While there are many advantages of this approach, it also faces a number of conceptual and practical challenges, one of which is managing the conflict that sometimes arises between promoting scientific and community interests. This essay explores the potential conflict between scientific and community interests in several different stages of community-based participatory research, including research design, data interpretation, and publication, and makes some suggestions for practice and policy. To manage potential conflicts between scientific and community interests, investigators and community partners should enter into written agreements at the beginning of the study. In some cases, it may be necessary for a third party, such as a review committee from a supporting institution, the community, or a funding agency, to help investigators and community partners resolve disagreements. It may also be useful, in some situations, to publish a dissenting opinion when investigators and community partners cannot agree on how to interpret findings resulting from a study. These strategies may help address some of the challenges of implementing community-based participatory research.     

“主体间性-干预行动”框架:质性研究的反思谱系

质性研究中存在三种困境：主体间性、表述政治、参与行动。前两者是认识论意义上的困境,后者是解放政治和行动意义上的困境。他们在反思广度、深度、力度方面层层递进、步步深入。从对对象的反思到将研究作为反思对象,从认知研究到行动研究,共同构成了质性研究的“主体间性-干预行动”反思谱系。     

More Than Epistemology: Relationships in Applied Research With Underserved Communities

The nature and consequences of researcher-participant relationships are explored within methodological frameworks, and the impact of relationship roles and decisions are examined through an example of applied research with low-income women and an agency that serves them. Three types of relationship issues and decisions are discussed: (1) the construction of research relationships with two groups of participants: agency staff and agency clients; (2) the involvement of multiple researchers; and (3) the definition and boundaries of the research relationships pertinent to work with people and communities with limited resources. Researcher-participant relationship dilemmas and decisions have implications for the quality of our research and the lives of our participants.     

Re‐conceptualising the link between research and practice in social work: A literature review on knowledge utilisation

Despite the recent movement towards greater research use in many areas of social work, criticisms persist that decision making in practice is seldom informed by sound research evidence. Discourse about the research‐to‐practice gap in social work has tended to focus on the feasibility of evidence‐based practice for the profession, but has rarely drawn from the broader knowledge utilisation literature. There are important understandings to be gained from the knowledge utilisation field, which spans more than six decades of interdisciplinary research.This article introduces the wider knowledge utilisation literature to a social work audience. It considers the potential of this body of literature to facilitate research use in social work, as well as conceptual issues that may be hindering it from informing improvements to research utilisation in practice.     

Transforming Psychology: Interpretive and Participatory Research Methods

Transforming psychology, the title of this volume, refers to the personal and social transformations that take place through the work we do, as well as to our goal of transforming the field of psychology itself through the inclusion of the interpretive and participatory methods described here. In this volume we examine how these methods have been and continue to be incorporated into the field of psychology and the challenges researchers have faced in doing so. We examine the epistemological foundations upon which these methods are based and provide a series of exemplars to illustrate the variety of ways in which interpretive and participatory methods are being applied. Finally, we discuss some of the barriers that remain to fulfilling this goal of transformation within our work and within our discipline.     

Social work research: the state of the art (or science)

This paper provides a critical review of current trends within social work research methodology. The paper identifies three influential contemporary perspectives in social work research: empirical practice, pragmatism and participatory/critical research. It identifies the different approaches taken by each perspective to what should be researched, how it should be researched, and how truth claims should be evaluated. By exploring the linkages between methodology, social work and wider social and political changes, the paper argues that research is an intensely political rather than a neutral activity.     

Phenomenological and Participatory Research on Schizophrenia: Recovering the Person in Theory and Practice

This article describes the application of phenomenological and participatory research methods in understanding the problem of recurrent inpatient admissions for individuals diagnosed with serious mental illness. Conventional approaches to understanding and addressing inpatient recidivism in serious mental illness have neglected to invite the perspective or input of the person with the disorder, further exacerbating the passive and helpless role of mental patient into which these individuals have become socialized by virtue of prevailing patterns of cultural stigma and clinical practice. These approaches have focused exclusively on the disorder and its signs and symptoms and have attempted to prevent readmission through early detection and intervention to prevent relapse. This paper describes the failure of one attempt to institute such an approach to addressing the problem of recidivism, and the use of phenomenological and participatory research methods to involve recidivist patients themselves in exploring the reasons for this failure and to suggest alternative approaches. These methods involved patients' describing their experiences of hospitalization, discharge, and readmission, identifying the precipitants and reasons for their readmissions, and participating in the design of a new intervention that has proven more successful in assisting them in establishing more satisfying lives for themselves in the community as an alternative to returning to the hospital. The authors suggest that such participatory methods provide an antidote to the passive and helpless role of mental patient often encouraged by conventional modes of clinical practice and research, allowing for a recovery of an active role for the person with the disorder both in the theory and practice of clinical psychology.     

Dialogic Pedagogy for Youth Participatory Action Research: Facilitation of an Intergroup Empowerment Program

This article describes the pedagogical and facilitation approach of a yearlong youth empowerment program that engaged a group of adolescents who were racially and socioeconomically diverse in participatory action research. Nine adolescents from inner-city neighborhoods and suburban communities across the metropolitan Detroit, Michigan, region completed a Photovoice project. As part of the project, the youth documented racial segregation to inform community-based advocacy efforts. Pedagogical principles from intergroup dialogues were used to help facilitate participants’ understanding of differences across race and socioeconomic status. The article outlines the four-stage curricular design used to organize group activities. Those stages are (1) group formation, (2) exploration of differences and commonalities, (3) discussion of controversial issues, and (4) action planning. This article illustrates how facilitation of a diverse group in participatory action research may require a dialogic approach that addresses cross-cultural differences and builds positive intergroup collaboration skills.