Social Work Research: Establishing distinctiveness in an interdisciplinary context

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Social Work ResearchEstablishing
distinctiveness in an interdisciplinary context

• Jackie Powell
• University of Southampton
• j.m.powell_at_soton.ac.uk

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Mapping the Territory
Practice- orientated disciplines
Practice
SOCIAL WORK RESEARCH
SOCIAL WORK COMMUNITY
SOCIAL SCIENCES COMMUNITY
Education
Academic disciplines
Theory
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Social Work Research

• Use of broad range of research methods
• Quest for both usefulness and theoretical
  contribution
• Concern with social inclusion and social justice
• A focus on social change
• Work with stakeholders across research process
• A Social Work Research Strategy in Higher
  Education 2006-2020

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Capacity building?

• Used as a key concept in policies/strategies
  concerned with improving quality of life
  (individual and collective)
• resources and support that strengthen the
  skills and abilities of people to enable them to
  take effective action and a leading role in their
  development of their communities (Home Office,
  2003)
• Need to move away from a deficit model towards a
  more participatory approach

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Social work research and capacity building

• Promoting research expertise across the Social
  Work community
• Links within and across practice and academic
  settings
• A continuum of learning and development
• research aware
• research informed
• research competent
• research literate

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Social work resources

• Initiatives linking research and practice e.g.
  Making Research Count
• Initiatives within social work education e.g.
  OSWE project
• ESRC funded Researcher Development Initiative
  (RDI) e.g. Promoting confidence and competent in
  social work research

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Interdisciplinary resources

• Lessons to be learned from other
  practice-oriented disciplines e.g. research
  capacity building network in Education
• ESRC initiatives to support training and capacity
  building
• National Centre for Research Methods
  www.ncrm.ac.uk
• Researcher Development Initiative www.rdi.ac.uk

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Building alliances

• What makes social work research distinctive?
• Practice literacy of researchers and research
  literacy of practitioners, policy makers and
  managers (SCIE 2007)
• Locating social work research within the social
  science community
• Identifying common concerns relevance and
  utility innovative methods and approaches