The Changing Conditions of Social Work Research

This paper seeks to make a contribution to the current debate about the changing nature and purpose of social work research. It identifies several approaches to social work research evident in the UK and further afield and, in particular, examines different ways of engaging with research participants in the research process. The changing role and relations of research arising from the use of more inclusive practices are then considered; first in terms of the relevance of research for practice, and secondly, in relation to knowledge claims in the development of social work theory and practice. With the ever-growing developments in information and communication technologies, where Western ideas and initiatives continue to dominate in relation to both models of social work and research approaches, an argument is made for dialogue throughout the research process, the centrality of negotiating skills and reflexivity, and a more creative use of conventional research skills. Dialogue, in the form outlined here, provides a means of encouraging a ‘connectedness’ between research, practice and theory, at all levels—the particular location where the research takes place, the wider national context and the international or global stage.