Summary
Contents
Subject index
This book is a practical beginner's guide to both conducting and using research within the context of social work practice. A clear and accessible introduction to applied research methods for social work students and practitioners, this text covers the key themes, debates and approaches, including:
- The ethics of social work research
- Conducting interviews and questionnaires
- Focus groups
- Observation and narrative
- The involvement of service users
- Analyzing data
With practical exercises and reflective questions, this is an essential text for undergraduate and graduate qualifying social work students.
Interviews and Questionnaires
Interviews and Questionnaires
Overview
There is no task more fundamental to social work than asking questions, no more universal process for social workers than interviewing. For those looking to construct an argument that social workers, by transferring their very professional skills, would make excellent researchers, they may well begin with a discussion about interviews. Indeed, Kadushin and Kadushin argue that ‘interviewing skills are the central skills on which all components of the social work process depend’ (1997: 3). As Allen and Langford (2008) proceed to contend, because social work deals with the social needs of individuals, an ability to understand those needs and respond to them is vital and that can only be done ‘by talking’. Of course, social workers have very different kinds ...
- Loading...
