Social work and science: Many ways of knowing?

Abstract

This article traces the history of scientific methods in social work and describes the use of scientific methods by social workers who publish articles in major professional journals. The scientific roots of the profession are discussed in the context of constructivist and postpositivist ways of knowing. The data, which support findings from similar studies of the literature and are consistent with historical trends in the profession, suggest that social workers make little use of rigorous qualitative and quantitative methods of investigation. Even within the social work literature, research-based investigation is used less frequently by authors with social work training than by authors with training in other disciplines.

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