Practitioner Research : The Reflexive Social Worker

* What kind of research can a busy practitioner undertake?

* How can they marry research skills to the insights of practice?

Social workers and those in related professions are increasingly urged to be research-minded and to evaluate their practice, but there is little appropriate material to help them to do this.

Practitioner Research has been designed with the busy practitioner in mind. It offers down-to-earth advice to those seeking realistic ways of studying their own agency. It demystifies research and makes its concepts and skills accessible to the inexperienced.

The authors draw on their experience of running a successful annual research programme for practitioners and illustrate their case throughout with a wealth of real-life examples. They argue that the development of a research-minded profession will come about most effectively through practitioners gaining first-hand experience of research problems.

Practitioner Research includes chapters on designing a study, methods of collecting and analysing data, and dissemination. It also features examples of studies successfully carried out by practitioners. It is essential reading for students, practitioners and managers in social work and related professions.

The Authors

Roger Fuller has had a varied research career in universities, the voluntary sector and local authorities and has been at the Social Work Research Centre, University of Stirling since 1986. His principal interests are social work evaluation and social work with children.

Alison Petch is Professor of Community Care Studies at the University of Glasgow. Her career has involved research in a number of areas, most recently in the field of health and social care. Before moving to Glasgow she spent seven years at the Social Work Research Centre, where she and Roger Fuller devised the highly successful Practitioner Research Programme.