The Empirical Practice Movement

Since its beginnings in the 1960s, the empirical practice movement in social work has addressed three major goals: advancement of the use of research methods in practice as a means of facilitating assessment, guiding intervention planning, and evaluating cases; promotion of the use of interventions whose effectiveness has been demonstrated through empirical research; and creation of knowledge through studies carried out by practitioner-researchers. Through an examination of the origins and development of the movement, I consider issues it has generated, as well as its successes and shortcomings in pursuing its goals.