Martin Wolins

Book Review: Social Research Consultation: An Experiment in Health and Welfare PlanningSocial Research Consultation: An Experiment in Health and Welfare Planning:WarrenRoland L.. 163 pp., 1963. Russell Sage Foundation, New York. Available through Social Casework.

In the past decade the Russell Sage Foundation has chosen to follow an interesting and rewarding path-to support the expansion of behavioral science knowledge in the profession of social work. The Foundation has supported-among others-three social scientists, who have undertaken research in, respectively, a child guidance center, a child welfare agency, and a family service agency. Each has produced insights as the setting and his own capabilities allowed. The over-all impact of their contribution is impossible to assess, but social work is clearly the richer as a result of their involvement. Previous projects in social work agencies that were undertaken by the Foundation have dealt with direct services to individuals or families. The present report describes a somewhat different use of the behavioral scientist-as a research consultant to a state-wide planning and consultation agency. Roland Warren defines his own role with clarity and considerable precision: