Research Methods for Social Work (Empowerment Series)

by Allen Rubin

Social work research seeks to provide the practical knowledge that social workers need to solve the problems they confront. • Social work research seeks to give the field the information it needs to alleviate human suffering and promote social welfare. • Social work research seeks to accomplish the same humanistic goals as social work practice. Like practice, social work research is a compassionate, problem-solving, and practical endeavor. • Recognizing when particular interventions for particular practice situations have been supported by adequate scientific evidence is an important guide to social work practice. • Social work practitioners should understand social work research methods well enough to discriminate between strong and weak studies. • Compassion for clients is the main reason for social workers to use research. • Social workers have an ethical responsibility to utilize research and contribute to the development of the profession’s knowledge base. • Much of what we know is by agreement rather than by experience. • Tradition and authority are important sources of understanding, but relying on them exclusively can be risky.