ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines two major approaches to research in social work – evidence-based practice and reflective practice – and suggested that our approach would be different from both. Evidence-based practice comes with a rather mechanistic view of the social worker, which Schon describes as ‘rational-technical’. Research findings are seen as providing evidence of causal links between social and personal problems and the attributes of people or relationships. Furthermore it is assumed that research can identify specific interventions that ‘work’, enabling unproblematic connections between assessment and intervention. Social workers would be expected (even required) by bureaucratic processes to categorise cases in terms of various types in order to direct their work – for instance, if the family problems are seen as caused by deficit parenting, then interventions should aim to promote parenting skills.
