Social Work, Social Science and Practice Wisdom

Social work has for some time had an ambiguous and ambivalent relationship with its social science knowledge base. However, this has arisen, at least in part, because of the emphasis on the outcome or product of social science rather than the process by which research is conducted. This paper, focusing on assessment, argues that an emphasis on process goes some way to closing the gap between social science and social work, that the methods used by social researchers are, in many respects, simply refinements of the methodology of everyday life, and that social workers, when conducting assessments operate rather like practical qualitative researchers. Using Analytical Induction as an heuristic device, it proceeds to explore critical characteristics of good practice in social work assessments. It concludes that practice should be characterized by critical awareness, involving imaginative development of alternative hypotheses, a sceptical attitude towards case assessments and a principle of adopting hypotheses least likely to be in error.