Problem formulation in practitioner and researcher partnerships: A decade of experience at the Center for the Study of Social Work Practice

This article examines social work research problem formulation in the context of practitioner and researcher partnerships. The analysis draws from a decade of experience at the Center for the Study of Social Work Practice. The Center was established to bring university faculty together with agency practitioners to conduct practice research. This organizational partnership between a university and a social agency has resulted in a decade of experimentation on how this partnership can facilitate social work practice knowledge development. This article describes the studies conducted at the Center with specific attention to how research problem formulation has been influenced by the university and agency partners.