Testing Practice Wisdom

Social workers whose practice models are not empirically based rely on a large store of practice wisdom in treating their clients. Single-system research can be used to begin testing, and perhaps validating, much of this practice wisdom. This article considers why such a research strategy is desirable. It then suggests a generic structure and language for practice that could help practitioners formulate researchable questions. Finally, four examples are given of research questions generated by examining practice wisdom from the psychosocial and generalist models.