Lars Uggerhøj

Theorizing practice research in social work

The article focuses on theories, definitions, interests, possibilities and barriers in practice research in social work. It points out that both practice and research will be influenced by participating in and developing practice research. – and that both parts must and will learn from the process. To elaborate and define practice research in social work, it is necessary to consider connected approaches and theories. The article will show that practice research is both connected to and can use the theoretical frames of Actual science and Mode 2 knowledge production. To understand and develop research closely connected to practice it is necessary to define it in three different ways: practice research, practitioner research and user-controlled research. Examples from different Nordic approaches connected to these definitions will be presented. Although practice and research both need to develop practice research they do at the same time have different interests which will challenge both parts. Practice research must be looked upon as both an area of collaboration and a meeting point for different stakeholders: users, social workers, administrative management/organizers, politicians and researchers. It is stated that practice research at the same time need to break down barriers between the stakeholders, and to be aware not to combine them totally as differencies and dilemmas are a part of practice research and should remain so .

The New York statement on the evolving definition of practice research designed for continuing dialogue: a bulletin from the 3rd International Conference on Practice Research (2014)

This Statement on Practice Research is a work in progress. It emerges out of deliberations from three international conferences on defining and operationalizing practice research. It seeks to capture both a process and outcome in which practitioners, researchers, service users, and educators collectively engage in a negotiated process of inquiry. One of the goals of this form of research is to place equal emphasis on improving practice and improving services. Practice research also seeks to rebalance the power relations in terms of integrating the voices of service users, service providers, service researchers, and instructors preparing future and current service providers. This third statement emerges out of the most recent international conference in New York City (2012) and continues the construction of the social science and social philosophy foundation of practice research. It seeks to expand the dialogue on practice research to include more international voices while also searching for linkages with the evolving process of defining the mixed methods approach to evidence-informed practice. This Statement provides a platform for the 4th International Conference on Practice Research planned for Hong Kong in 2017.

Helsinki Statement on Social Work Practice Research

In 2008, a group of international social work researchers met in Salisbury (UK) to explore the nature of practice research in social work. They developed some preliminary consensus that became known as the Salisbury Statement on Practice Research. The statement arose from a concern that the contemporary emphasis on evidencebased practice was not adequately addressing the complexities of social work practice and the tools for improving practice. Social work and its clients might therefore be better served if we gave a stronger emphasis to practice priorities and to more active engagement with practitioners as researchers. This is reflected in the description of practice research:

Learning from each other: collaboration processes in practice research

Practice Research is a meeting point between practice and research where both common understandings and different interests meet. Therefore, Practice Research has to be understood as a process in which negotiation is a central part of developing research initiatives. In these negotiations, neither practice nor research must fully give up their special interests. Both partners must maintain equal share so as to make it possible for them to hold on to their interests; to open up new understandings, new traditions, and new learning processes; and to make it possible for them to learn from each other as a part of the process. Although the overall goal in Practice Research is to qualify social work, the balance – or the conflicts – between the different partners is both an interesting and a challenging issue in Practice Research. Based on the position of Practice Research, the article connects the theoretically based definitions and described methodological approaches with concrete experiences from Practice Research, and answers such questions as: ‘How is it possible to plan the research together, to agree on the research questions, to discuss findings?’, ‘How is it possible to have a critical discussions and to define and discuss the concept of Practice Research?’ Such discussions are normally carried out only among researchers but, in practice, research goes together with practice. To establish the meeting point between research and practice in social work, researchers and practitioners must be open to having their traditional understandings of what social work entails disturbed, to accept ‘the other’, and to work with ‘otherness’ as a positive part of the collaboration.

Negotiating Practice Research

The complexity of carrying out practice research in social service organizations is often matched by the complexity of teaching future social work practitioners to use and engage in practice research. The evidence of this complexity is clearly reflected in the articles featured in this special issue. To appreciate the scope of the teaching challenge, it is important to reflect on the evolving definition of practice research and issues involved in negotiating practice research activities with multiple stakeholders. According to the Salisbury Statement on Practice Research (Salisbury Forum Group, 2011, p. 5),

The Hong Kong Statement on Practice Research 2017: Contexts and Challenges of the Far East

This statement on social work practice research highlights the contributions of scholars, practitioners, and conference participants in the Fourth International Conference on Practice Research (ICPR) in 2017, hosted by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University in May 2017. It focuses on the contexts and challenges of carrying out practice research in the Far East and beyond as well as raises pertinent questions about the development of practice research. It begins with a brief description of the context of social work practice research in the Far East. The second part explores the organizational and community contexts and challenges of practice research with special attention to the perspectives of practitioners. It concludes with reviewing some of the continuing challenges that will guide the program planning for the Fifth ICPR in 2020 in Melbourne, Australia, located at the crossroads between East and West.

Creativity, fantasy, role-play and theatre in social work

This article considers the development of social work research and social work practice. In contrast to the usual emphasis on evidence based studies and tools in social work research the article argues for the development of quantitative studies and tools and proposes creativity, fantasy, role-play and especially Forum Theatre as key elements of this development. This approach is compatible with Flybergs 2002 concept of ‘actual science’ – a context-dependent methodology oriented more towards subjects than objects – or ‘phronetic social science’ – where judgements and decisions are based on values. Both approaches have the capacity to incorporate the complexity of social work, to involving users and social workers in research processes, and to build up knowledge production from the bottom up. The article also argues that creativity, role-play, fantasy and Forum theatre are as necessary and useful in developing social work practice as in facilitating the research process.