Ethics,Gender, and Ethnicity in Single-Case Research and Evaluation

Social work practitioners and students are now being encouraged to do single-case research or at least, to evaluate their practice outcomes objectively. Ethical issues in both endeavors, including issues related to clients' gender and ethnicity, need more attention than they have been given. This article explores a number of ethical issues in single-case research and evaluation, with special attention to possible gender and ethnic bias in selecting clients or target problems to monitor. Guidelines for reducing bias, seeking informed client consent, and use of human subjects review are proposed.