ABSTRACT
It was not until the late 1960s that researchers thought to ask clients what they felt about social workers and the service that they gave. As well as satisfying social work’s curiosity, it was recognized that the provision of an ‘effective service requires us to know something about the responses and reactions of those we seek to help’ (Sainsbury 1975, p.1). More broadly, the pursuit of the consumer’s view was part of a general movement in the social sciences away from simply seeing people as objects in society to understanding them as individuals who have personal views of the world.
