Evidence-Based Practice and the Borders of Data in the Global Information ERA

Increasing demands that social work be a profession committed to evidence-based practice have coincided with innovations in information technology, which potentially give social workers unprecedented access to a plethora of sources and types of evidence. Because these innovations can enable access to evidence beyond traditional boundaries, the question of how we establish the borders of acceptability warrants consideration. This article explores the range of boundaries that contemporary social workers may encounter as they attempt to negotiate the demands of evidence-based practice. Recommendations for a critical, but not insular, approach to selecting evidence bases for social work interventions are provided.