Suchergebnisse

"The evolution of practice research can be viewed as a 21st century development. As it will be defined and illustrated in this volume, it has been influenced by multiple forces. One of these forces is represented by the wave of interest in evidence-based practice that prioritizes the use of rigorous scientific methods in the form of random control trials (RCT) in order to determine service effectiveness. In particular, the central role played by the concept of "fidelity" to the procedures required to guarantee outcomes similar to those demonstrated in multiple RCT studies has generated concerns among researchers and human service practitioners attempting to take into account the diverse needs of service users and the diverse capacities of service providers. These developments have generated renewed interest in qualitative methods and what Flyvbjerg (2001) calls "the science of the concrete" that is defined in the first chapter. We view practice research as a form of evidence-informed practice that involves a wide array of research designs and methods, in contrast to the narrower emphasis on experimental designs that characterizes evidence-based practice"--

In this analysis, we contend that theorizing strengthens the connections between practice and research by requiring researchers to check their working assumptions, premises, conclusions, and implications for research, theory, and practice. Our exploration of the process of theorizing in practice research is rooted in the concept of "sensemaking" ( Weick, 1995 ) whereby practice researchers engage in disciplined imagination by reflecting on diverse forms of evidence, being attentive to specific practices and problems, and moving between intuition and reasoned explanation. The analysis includes the following components: 1) tools for theorizing from research findings (abductive analysis and problematization), 2) processes for theorizing about practice research findings (focusing on practice, researcher repertoire, and theory development processes), 3) an example of theorizing from key findings, and 4) the construction of interventive theory. It concludes with implications for social work practice research.

The HUSK projects, involving collaboration between service users, providers, educators, and researchers, coincided with the reorganization of national government services (NAV). The NAV reorganization brought together employment services, social insurance, and municipal social service benefits, and called for a service model where users would be empowered to influence the provision of services. In this analysis of the HUSK cases the authors focus on the relationship between the service user and the service provider, identifying themes in two broad domains: concepts of the individual that included the service user and the service provider and concepts of the relationship that included power, role, activity, interaction, and communication. Within each theme, the analysis highlights the transition from a traditional or historical state to a new or desired state and draws upon some of the classic literature that frames the encounters between service users and providers.

If some practitioners are more research minded than others, then promising approaches for bridging the research to practice gap may be developed by describing research-minded practitioners and examining how to locate and support them. This article follows this basic logic in providing an overview of organizational development and practitioner support models for increasing knowledge use in human service organizations. The article begins with a conceptual profile of research-minded practitioners—individuals with an affinity for empirical inquiry, critical thinking, and reflection allied with a commitment to data-driven organizational improvement—and the organizational settings needed to host research-minded practice. This is followed by a description of the challenges involved in promoting practitioner involvement in using, translating, and doing research and strategies to address these challenges. We conclude with implications for supporting research-minded practitioners and aligning their efforts with organizational improvement processes. The goal of the analysis is to identify the organizational contexts in which research-minded practitioners can thrive as well as new directions for practice research.