Hypothesis Generation in Social Work Research

This article describes the process of generating hypotheses from empirical, qualitalive data. Arguing that a discovery oriented, qualitative method of hypothesis generation has great potential for the development of social work knowledge, the paper shows how the grounded theory method originated by Glaser and Strauss (1976) builds on both induction and deduction and develops the research design over the course of the research. The conceptual framework, the research question, the sample, and the hypotheses evolve in response to the empirical patterns which the researcher discovers in the conduct of the research. The processes of hypothesis generation are demonstrated through examples taken from a research project on factors which distinguish perpetrators of child sexual abuse from persons of similar background and who have not acted out sexually with children. A discovery-oriented approach can help build social work knowledge of the situation-to-be-measured and changed.