The authors present a set of guiding principles and strategies to facilitate the collaborative efforts of social work researchers and practitioners as they initiate, design, and implement outcome evaluations of human service interventions and programs. Beginning with an exploration of the interpersonal barriers to practice-research collaborations,…

Discusses heuristic approach to scientific social work research as philosophy of research that draws from contemporary philosophy of science and cultural, cognitive, and linguistic studies and that endorses research as tool for advocacy. Presents fundamental concepts of heuristic model, emphasizing how new conceptual foundations can facilitate…

Identifies and discusses four issues that arise in process of collaborative research conducted by practitioners and researchers: issues of practice, design, measurement, and team development. Includes case example of practitioner and research collaboration to evaluate single-session groups for families of psychiatric inpatients to illustrate…

Suggests that clinical social work methods will become increasingly problem-oriented in assessment, more active in intervention, more specific in setting treatment goals, briefer in duration, and more amenable to evaluation. Presents clinical-administrative model and discusses implications for social work education and research. (Author/NB)

Notes that empirical clinical practice has become important approach to social work practice. Analyzes metatheoretical and methodological justification for empirical clinical practice. Based on analysis, concludes that argument for empirical clinical practice as dominant approach to social work practice is weak and that alternative approaches…

Describes six languages that scientifically minded and practice-competent social workers need to be fluent in lay language of client, abstract language of theorist, empirical and often quantitative language of researcher, categorical language of information scientist, technical terminology or jargon used by helping professionals, and preferential…

Data from National Association of Social Workers national membership list suggest that gap between practitioners and clinical researchers may stem from different mindsets and from actual differences in commitment to importance of clinical evaluation. In minds of practitioners, there appeared to be sharp distinction between formal single-subject…

Traces the evolution of ethical norms, principles, and standards in social work during four stages in the profession's history: (1) morality period, (2) values period, (3) ethical theory and decision-making period, and (4) ethical standards and risk-management period. Recent developments in the profession include complex conceptual frameworks and…

Discusses 100-year-old debate about the primary function of the social work profession: to seek social reform or to provide individual treatment. Uses debate format to argue that these need not be mutually exclusive and divisive, and that they are increasingly evident in social work education and practice. (Author/JDM)

Highlights social work legacies and how they will impact 21st-century practice. Provides several examples to help inform integrative social and economic foundations for practice, policy, and human well-being. Importance of these and other income-support and capacity-building strategies is featured against the challenges associated with welfare…