Curriculum „Enhancing participative practice in social work”

Research traditions
and trends

Objectivity and subjectivity in human science research

Epistemology between positivism and post- modern relativism

Contexts and interpretations of “Evidence Based Practice”

What reasons justify researcher objectivity?

How can detachment and neutrality prevent you from obtaining meaningful insights into your research topic?

What counts for you as
“evidence” in professional social work practice?

Types and pragmatics of research partnerships in view of limitations imposed by
- Ethical standards (e.g. research
interfering in people’s coping abilities, mental health)
- Limitations in abilities (e.g. children, people with severe disabilities)
- Professional limitations (e.g. delinquency, domestic violence, abuse)

What could be undesirable outcomes of my research project?

Which criteria distinguish desirable from undesirable research outcomes?

Forms and levels of
participatory approaches to research; example of CBPR

- Community-controlled and -managed, no professional researchers involved.
- Community-controlled with professional researchers managed by and working for the community.
- Co-production – equal partnership between professional researchers and community
members.
- Controlled by professional researchers but with greater or lesser degrees of
community partnership, for example:
– Advisory group involved in research design or dissemination.
– Trained community researchers undertake some/all of data
gathering, analysis and writing.
– Professional researcher uses participatory methods (e.g. young people take photos), Banks et al., 2013)

– Advisory group involved in research design or dissemination.
– Trained community researchers undertake some/all of data gathering, analysis and writing.
– Professional researcher uses participatory methods (e.g. young people take photos), Banks et al., 2013)

Proposal: “Democratic partnership”
“Democratic partnership means that social workers, while constructing partnership with families, are driven by a desire for engagement with an ongoing, ambiguous, uncertain, open and undetermined experiment of social work in a diversity of situations.” (Roose et al., 2013, 454)

What is the intended level of community / user involvement in your research project?

Are the levels decided
beforehand or do you intend a widening of involvement in the course of the research process?

What kind of practical
arrangements would “democratic partnership” require to operate in the case of your project?