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Module 1 Chapter 3: Practice Evaluation as Evidence

The right-hand side of the evidence-intervention-evidence figure from Chapter 1 (Figure 1-1) is the focus of this chapter.

In Chapter 2 we looked at evidence-informed practice decisions. In this chapter, we introduce information about evaluating practice, what other disciplines call data-based or data-driven decision making: using data and evaluation research methods to make social work practice accountable and to inform practice improvement efforts.

In this chapter you will learn:

• basic principles related to four evaluation formats (needs assessment, outcome, process, cost-effectiveness)
• distinctions between practice, program, and policy evaluation
• how evaluation and intervention research compare.

Why Evaluate?

In short, social work professionals engage in evaluation of practice as an accountability issue. We are accountable to clients, programs, funders, policy decision-makers, and the profession to ensure that we are delivering the best possible services, that the services we deliver achieve the promised benefits, and that the resources dedicated to our services are well-spent. This has previously been covered in our discussions regarding standards presented in the Social Work Code of Ethics. Of particular relevance to this discussion is the Standard 5.02 concerning evaluation and research (p. 27). Social workers are expected to evaluate policies, programs, and practice interventions, as well as facilitate research that contributes to the development of knowledge.

What is Evaluation?

Throughout the remainder of our course Research and Statistics for Understanding Social Work Intervention we examine methods for evaluating intervention efforts. A framework for understanding different approaches to evaluation is helpful, beginning with the nature of the evaluation research questions and exploring how these relate to different forms or approaches to evaluation.

Evaluation Questions.  By now you recognize that research designs and methodologies are driven by the nature of the research questions being asked. This is equally true in the evaluation research arena. Here is a sample of the kinds of questions asked in evaluating social work practice at different levels:

• Did client behavior change to a significant degree and in the desired direction?
• Were gains associated with intervention sustained over time?
• Are there unintended negative consequences associated with the intervention?
• To what extent are principles of diversity awareness integrated into practitioner behaviors and practitioner supervision?
• How satisfied are clients with various aspects of the delivered intervention?
• Is the intervention’s cost/benefit ratio favorable compared to other intervention options?
• Are some people deriving more benefit than others from the intervention?
• Is there a more cost-efficient way to achieve similar gains from the intervention?

Evaluation Formats . Because evaluation questions differ, social workers employ varied formats for engaging in evaluation. Here is a description of four major forms of evaluation research: needs assessment, outcome evaluation, process evaluation, and cost-effectiveness evaluation.  

Needs assessment. The aim of needs assessment  is to answer questions related to the scope of a problem or need and where gaps exist in efforts to address the problem or need. For example, school social workers may want to know about the problem of bullying that occurs in a school district. They might engage in a needs assessment to determine the nature and extent of the problem, what is needed to eradicate the problem, and how the problem is being addressed across the district. Where they detect sizeable gaps between need and services provided, social workers can develop targeted responses. The needs assessment might also indicate that different responses need to be launched in different circumstances, such as: elementary, middle, and high school levels; or, parents, teachers, administrators, peers, and mental health professionals in the district; or, different neighborhood schools across the district. Needs assessment is often concerned with the discrepancy between what is needed and what is accessed in services, not only what is offered. As proponent of social justice, social workers are also concerned with identifying and addressing disparities (differential gaps) based on income, race/ethnicity, gender/gender identity, sexual orientation, age, national origin, symptom severity, geographical location (e.g., urban, suburban, rural disparities), and other aspects of human diversity. This represents an important extension of what you learned in our earlier course, Research and Statistics for Understanding Social Work Problems and Diverse Populations . The gap between two sides or groups is sometimes monumental.

Outcome evaluation. Evaluating practice outcomes happens at multiple levels: individual cases, programs, and policy. Social work professionals work with clients or client systems to achieve specific change goals and objectives. For example, this might be reducing a person’s alcohol consumption or tobacco use, a couple having fewer arguments, improving student attendance throughout a school, reducing violence in a community, or breaking a gender or race based “glass ceiling” in an institution. Regardless of the level of intervention, social work professionals evaluate the impact of their practices and intervention efforts. This type of research activity is called outcome evaluation.  When outcome evaluation is directed to understanding the impact of practices on specific clients or client systems, it is called  practice evaluation .

Evaluating the outcomes of interventions also happens at the aggregate level of programs. Social workers engaged in program evaluation  look at the impact of an intervention program on the group of clients or client systems it serves. Rather than providing feedback about an individual client or client system, the feedback concerns multiple clients engaged in the intervention program. For example, social workers might wish to evaluate the extent to which child health goals (outcomes) were achieved with an intervention program for empowering parents to eliminate their young children’s exposure to third-hand smoke. The background for this work is described in an article explaining that third hand smoke is the residue remaining on skin, clothing, hair, upholstery, carpeting, and other surfaces; it differs from first- or second-hand smoke exposure because the individuals are not exposed by smoking themselves or breathing the smoke someone else produces. Young children come into close contact with contaminated surfaces when being held by caregivers, riding in vehicles, or crawling and toddling around the home where smoking has occurred, leaving residue behind (Begun, Barnhart, Gregoire, & Shepperd, 2014). Outcome oriented program evaluation would be directed toward assessing the impact of an intervention delivered to a group of parents with young children at risk of exposure to third-hand smoke at home, in transportation, from relatives, or in child care settings.

Policy evaluation  has a lot in common with program evaluation, because policy is a form of intervention. Policy evaluation data are based on intervention effects experienced by many individuals, neighborhoods, communities, or programs/institutions taken together, not tracking what happens with one client system or a single program at a time. For example, communities may gather a great deal of evaluation data about the impact on drug overdose deaths related to policies supporting first-responders, family members, friends, and bystanders being able to deliver opioid overdose reversal medications (naloxone) when first encountering someone suspected of experiencing opioid overdose. “As an antidote to opioid overdoses, naloxone has proven to be a valuable tool in combating overdose deaths and associated morbidity” (Kerensky & Walley, 2017, p. 6). Policy evaluation can answer the question of how much impact such a policy change can make. Policy evaluation also answers questions such as: who should be provided with naloxone rescue kits; how naloxone rescue kit prescribing education might alter opioid prescribing behavior; whether different naloxone formulations, doses, and delivery methods provide similar results and how do their costs compare; how what happens after overdose rescue might keep people safe and link them to services to prevent future overdose events; and, how local, state, and federal laws affect this policy’s implementation (see Kerensky & Walley, 2017). These factors help determine if the impact of a policy is simply a drop in the bucket or a flood of change.

Process evaluation.  Process evaluation  is less concerned with questions about outcomes than with questions about how an intervention or program is implemented. Why evaluating process matters is clear if you think about fidelity examples previously discussed (e.g., the Duluth model for community response to domestic violence). Process evaluation matters in determining what practitioners really do when intervening and what clients or client systems experience during an intervention. It also matters in terms of understanding the “means to the end,” beyond simply observing the end results. Process evaluation also examines the way an intervention or program is supported by agency administrators, agency activities, and distribution of resources—the context of the intervention—and possible efficiencies or inefficiencies in how an intervention is delivered.

“Process evaluations involve monitoring and measuring variables such as communication flow, decision-making protocols, staff workload, client record keeping, program supports, staff training, and worker-client activities. Indeed, the entire sequence of activities that a program undertakes to achieve benefits for program clients or consumers is open to the scrutiny of process evaluations” (Grinell & Unrau, 2014, p. 662).

For example, despite child welfare caseworkers’ recognition of the critically important role in child development for early identification of young children’s mental health problems and needs, they also encounter difficulties that present significant barriers to effectively doing so (Hoffman et al., 2016). Through process evaluation, the investigators identified barriers that included differences in how workers and parents perceived the children’s behavioral problems, a lack of age-appropriate mental health services being available, inconsistencies with their caseworker roles and training/preparation to assess and address these problems, and a lack of standardized tools and procedures.

Cost-effectiveness evaluation. Cost-related evaluations address the relationship between resources applied through intervention and the benefits derived from that intervention. You make these kinds of decisions on a regular basis: is the pleasure derived from a certain food or beverage “worth” the cost in dollars or calories, or maybe the degree of effort involved? While costs are often related to dollars spent, relevant costs might also include a host of other resources—staff time and effort, space, training and credential requirements, other activities being curtailed, and so forth. Benefits might be measured in terms of dollars saved, but are also measured in terms of achieving goals and objectives of the intervention. In a cost-effectiveness evaluation  study of Mental Health Courts conducted in Pennsylvania, diversion of individuals with serious mental illness and non-violent offenses into community-based treatment posed no increased risk to the public and reduced jail time (two significant outcomes). Overall, the “decrease in jail expenditures mostly offset the cost of the treatment services” (Psychiatric Times, 2007, p. 1)—another significant outcome. The intervention’s cost-effectiveness was greatest when offenses were at the level of a felony and for individuals with severe psychiatric disorders. While cost savings were realized by taxpayers, complicating the picture was the fact that the budget where gains were situated (criminal justice) is separate from the budget where the costs were incurred (mental health system).

How Evaluation and Intervention Research Compare

The goals, objectives, and methods of evaluation research  and intervention research  often appear to be very similar. In both cases, systematic research procedures are applied to answer questions about an intervention. However, there exist important differences between evaluation and research to consider, important because they have implications for how investigators and evaluators approach the pursuit of evidence.

Differences begin with the nature of the research questions being asked. Evaluation researchers pursue specific knowledge, intervention researchers pursue generalizable knowledge. In evaluation, the goal is to inform leader or administrator decisions about a program, or to inform an individual practitioner’s intervention decisions about work with specific clients. The aim of practice or program evaluation is to determine the worth of an intervention to their agency, their clients, and their stakeholders. Intervention researchers, on the other hand, have as their goal the production of knowledge or the advancing of theory for programs and practitioners more generally—not a specific program or practitioner. This difference translates into differences in how the research process is approached in evaluation compared to intervention science. Figure 3-1 depicts the differences in approach, methodology, analysis, and reporting between evaluation and intervention research (LaVelle, 2010).

Figure 3-1. Differences between intervention and evaluation research.

Take a moment to complete the following activity.

Chapter Summary

In this chapter, you were introduced to why evaluation is important in social work, extending what you learned in the prior course about the relationship of empirical evidence to social work practice. You also learned about the nature of evaluation questions and how these relate to evaluation research—an extension of what you learned in the prior course concerning the relationship between research questions and research approaches. In this chapter you were introduced to four different formats for evaluation (needs assessment, outcome evaluation, process evaluation, and cost-effectiveness evaluation), and you learned to distinguish between evaluation and intervention research.

Social Work 3402 Coursebook Copyright © by Dr. Audrey Begun is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Practice Evaluation Strategies Among Social Workers: Why an Evidence-Informed Dual-Process Theory Still Matters

Affiliation.

• 1 a School of Social Work , California State University , San Bernardino , California , USA.
• PMID: 28898168
• DOI: 10.1080/23761407.2017.1367344

Practice evaluation strategies range in style from the formal-analytic tools of single-subject designs, rapid assessment instruments, algorithmic steps in evidence-informed practice, and computer software applications, to the informal-interactive tools of clinical supervision, consultation with colleagues, use of client feedback, and clinical experience. The purpose of this article is to provide practice researchers in social work with an evidence-informed theory that is capable of explaining both how and why social workers use practice evaluation strategies to self-monitor the effectiveness of their interventions in terms of client change. The author delineates the theoretical contours and consequences of what is called dual-process theory. Drawing on evidence-informed advances in the cognitive and social neurosciences, the author identifies among everyday social workers a theoretically stable, informal-interactive tool preference that is a cognitively necessary, sufficient, and stand-alone preference that requires neither the supplementation nor balance of formal-analytic tools. The author's delineation of dual-process theory represents a theoretical contribution in the century-old attempt to understand how and why social workers evaluate their practice the way they do.

Keywords: Evaluation research; evidence-informed theory; practice research; social workers.

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11.1 Evaluation research

Learning objectives.

• Describe how to conduct evaluation research
• Define inputs, outputs, and outcomes
• Identify the three goals of process assessment

As you may recall from the definition provided in Chapter 1, evaluation research is research conducted to assess the effects of specific programs or policies. Evaluation research is often used when some form of policy intervention is planned, such as welfare reform or school curriculum change. The focus on interventions and social problems makes it natural fit for social work researchers. It might be used to assess the extent to which intervention is necessary by attempting to define and diagnose social problems in social workers’ service areas, and it might also be used to understand whether their agencies’ interventions have had their intended consequences.  Evaluation research is becoming more and more necessary for agencies to secure and maintain funding for their programs.  The main types of evaluation research are needs assessments, outcomes assessments, process assessments, and efficiency analyses such as cost-benefits or cost-effectiveness  analyses.  We will discuss two types in this section:  outcomes assessments and process assessments .

Outcomes Assessments

An outcomes assessment is an evaluation designed to discover if a program achieved its intended outcomes. Much like other types of research, it comes with its own peculiar terminology.  Inputs are the resources needed for the program to operate. These include physical location, any equipment needed, staff (and experience/knowledge of those staff), monetary funding, and most importantly, the clients. Program administrators pull together the necessary resources to run an intervention or program. The program is the intervention your clients receive—perhaps giving them access to housing vouchers or enrolling them in a smoking cessation class. The outputs of programs are tangible results of the program process. Outputs in a program might include the number of clients served, staff members trained to implement the intervention, mobility assistance devices distributed, nicotine patches distributed, etc. By contrast, outcomes speak to the purpose of the program itself.  Outcomes are the observed changes, whether intended or unintended, that occurred due to the program or intervention. By looking at each of these domains, evaluation researchers can obtain a comprehensive view of the program.

Let’s run through an example from the social work practice of the wife of Matt DeCarlo who wrote the source material for much of this textbook. She runs an after-school bicycling club called Pedal Up for children with mental health issues. She has a lot of inputs in her program. First, there are the children who enroll, the volunteer and paid staff members who supervise the kids (and their knowledge about bicycles and children’s mental health), the bicycles and equipment that all clients and staff use, the community center room they use as a home base, the paths of the city where they ride their bikes, and the public and private grants they use to fund the program. Next, the program itself is a twice weekly after-school program in which children learn about bicycle maintenance and bicycle safety for about 30 minutes each day and then spend at least an hour riding around the city on bicycle trails.

In measuring the outputs of this program, she has many options. She would probably include the number of children  participating in the program or the number of bike rides or lessons given. Other outputs might include the number of miles logged by the children over the school year, the number of bicycle helmets or spare tires distributed, etc. Finally, the outcomes of the programs might include each child’s mental health symptoms or behavioral issues at school.

Process Assessments

Outcomes assessments are performed at the end of a program or at specific points during the grant reporting process. What if a social worker wants to assess earlier on in the process if the program is on target to achieve its outcomes? In that case a process assessment is recommended, which evaluates a program in its earlier stages. Faulkner and Faulkner (2016) describe three main goals for conducting a process evaluation.

The first is program description , in which the researcher simply tries to understand how the program looks like in everyday life for clients and staff members. In our Pedal Up example, assessing program description might involve measuring in the first few weeks the hours children spent riding their bikes, the number of children and staff in attendance, etc. This data will provide those in charge of the program an idea of how their ideas have translated from the grant proposal to the real world. If, for example, not enough children are showing up or if children are only able to ride their bikes for ten minutes each day, it may indicate that something is wrong.

Another important goal of process assessment is program monitoring . If you have some social work practice experience already, it’s likely you’ve encountered program monitoring. Agency administrators may look at sign-in sheets for groups, hours billed by clinicians, or other metrics to track how services are utilized over time. They may also assess whether clinicians are following the program correctly or if they are deviating from how the program was designed. This can be an issue in program evaluations of specific treatment models, as any differences between what the administrators conceptualized and what the clinicians implemented jeopardize the internal validity of the evaluation. If, in our Pedal Up example, we have a staff member who does not review bike safety each week or does not enforce helmet laws for some students, we could catch that through program monitoring.

The final goal of process assessments is quality assurance. At its most simple level, quality assurance may involve sending out satisfaction questionnaires to clients and staff members. If there are serious issues, it’s better to know them early on in a program so the program can be adapted to meet the needs of clients and staff. It is important to solicit staff feedback in addition to consumer feedback, as they have insight into how the program is working in practice and areas in which they may be falling short of what the program should be. In our example, we could spend some time talking with parents when they pick their children up from the program or hold a staff meeting to provide opportunities for those most involved in the program to provide feedback.

Needs Assessments

A third type of evaluation research is a needs assessment. A needs assessment can be used to demonstrate and document a community or organizational need and should be carried out in a way to better understand the context in which the need arises. Needs assessments focus on gaining a better understanding of a gap within an organization or community and developing a plan to address that gap. They will often precede the development of a program or organization and are often used to justify the necessity of a program or organization to fill a gap. Needs assessments can be general, such as asking members of a community or organization to reflect on the functioning of a community or organization, or they can be specific in which community or organization members are asked to respond to an identified gap within a community or agency.

Needs assessments should respond to the following questions:

• What is the need or gap?
• What data exist about the need or gap?
• What data are needed in order to develop a plan to fill the gap?
• What resources are available to do the needs assessment?
• Who should be involved in the analysis and interpretation of the data?
• How will the information gathered be used and for what purpose?
• How will the results be communicated to community partners?

In order to answer these questions, needs assessments often follow a four-step plan. First, researchers must identify a gap in a community or organization and explore what potential avenues could be pursued to address the gap. This involves deciphering what is known about the needs within the community or organization and determining the scope and direction of the needs assessment. The researcher may partner with key informants within the community to identify the need in order to develop a method of research to conduct the needs assessment.

Second, the researcher will gather data to better understand the need. Data could be collected from key informants within the community, community members themselves, members of an organization, or records from an agency or organization. This involves designing a research study in which a variety of data collection methods could be used, such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, community forums, and secondary analysis of existing data. Once the data are collected, they will be organized and analyzed according to the research questions guiding the needs assessment.

Third, information gathered during data collection will be used to develop a plan of action to fill the needs. This could be the development of a new community agency to address a gap of services within the community or the addition of a new program at an existing agency. This agency or program must be designed according to the results of the needs assessment in order to accurately address the gap.

Finally, the newly developed program or agency must be evaluated to determine if it is filling the gap revealed by the needs assessment. Evaluating the success of the agency or program is essential to the needs assessment process.

Evaluation research is a part of all social workers’ toolkits. It ensures that social work interventions achieve their intended effects. This protects our clients and ensures that money and other resources are not spent on programs that do not work. Evaluation research uses the skills of quantitative and qualitative research to ensure clients receive interventions that have been shown to be successful.

Key Takeaways

• Evaluation research is a common research task for social workers.
• Outcomes assessment evaluate the degree to which programs achieved their intended outcomes.
• Outputs differ from outcomes.
• Process assessments evaluate a program in its early stages, so changes can be made.
• Inputs- resources needed for the program to operate
• Outcomes- the issues the program is trying to change
• Outcomes assessment- an evaluation designed to discover if a program achieved its intended outcomes
• Outputs- tangible results of the program process
• Process assessment- an evaluation conducted during the earlier stages of a program or on an ongoing basis
• Program- the intervention clients receive

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Foundations of Social Work Research Copyright © 2020 by Rebecca L. Mauldin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Practice research methods in social work: Processes, applications and implications for social service organisations

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Bowen McBeath, Michael J Austin, Sarah Carnochan, Emmeline Chuang, Practice research methods in social work: Processes, applications and implications for social service organisations, The British Journal of Social Work , Volume 52, Issue 6, September 2022, Pages 3328–3346, https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcab246

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Although social work research is commonly rooted within social service settings, it can be difficult for social work researchers and practitioners to develop and sustain participatory studies that specifically promote knowledge sharing and service improvement involving organisational practice. One participatory approach is practice research (PR), which involves social work researchers and practitioners collaborating to define, understand and try to improve the delivery of health and social care services and organisational structures and processes. The two goals of this commentary are to introduce essential methods and approaches to PR and to identify points of connection involving PR and social service organisational studies. Our specific focus on PR in statutory, voluntary and private social service organisations reflects efforts to connect practice, theory and qualitative and quantitative research methods to develop and share organisationally-situated knowledge.

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• DOI: 10.1080/15433714.2010.498669
• Corpus ID: 143723730

Social Work Practitioners and Practice Evaluation: How Are We Doing?

• L. Baker , F. Stephens , L. Hitchcock
• Published 30 November 2010
• Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment

19 Citations

Learning about practice from practice: a peer-based methodology, social workers' attitudes toward peer-reviewed literature: the evidence base, using principles of practice-based research to teach evidence-based practice in social work, evaluating social work clinical practice in the real world, split or synthesis: the odd relationship between clinical practice and research in social work and in social work education, a mixed-methods investigation of licensed masters-level social worker’s engagement in outcome evaluation.

• Highly Influenced

Improving Organisational Culture – The Practice Gains

Teaching note—teaching research methods: expanding practice evaluation designs for social work practice, the unfulfilled promise of scientific inquiry in advancing social work knowledge and practice, 21 references, practitioner involvement in clinical evaluation., does anything work, design evaluation: illuminating social work practice for better outcomes., the current state of evidence-based practice in social work, evidence-based practices in health care: social work possibilities., evidence-based practice for the helping professions: a practical guide with integrated multimedia, improving the teaching of evidence-based practice: challenges and priorities, teaching evidence-based practice: toward a new paradigm for social work education.

• Highly Influential

The Art of Evidence-Based Practice

The empirical practice movement, related papers.

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• Conducting research through an anti-racism lens Library research guide form the University of Minnesota.

Research Databases

• Child Welfare Information Gateway This link opens in a new window Provides research, data, and other information related to child welfare and family-centered practice. Includes many reports that describe program evaluation efforts.
• PsycTests This link opens in a new window Descriptive information about psychological tests, including thousands in full text. Also includes some examples of program evaluation instruments.
• Social Services Abstracts This link opens in a new window An index and abstract of current research focused on social work, human services, and related areas.

Handbooks and Other Library Resources

• Qualitative Research Skills for Social Work by Malcolm Carey ISBN: 1280877146 Publication Date: 2012 Malcolm Carey provides social work students, academics and practitioners with a practical guide that escorts them through the research process relating to the completion of a small-scale qualitative project or dissertation.
• The SAGE Handbook of Action Research by Hilary Bradbury, ed. ISBN: 9781473921290 Publication Date: 2015 Editor Hilary Bradbury has developed the third edition to take an international approach to the topic of action research. This volume is a resource for scholars and professionals engaged in social and political inquiry, organizational research and education.

• Social work research methods : learning by doing by Reginald O. York ISBN: 9781071849088 Publication Date: 2020

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Social Work Research and Evaluation: Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches

Richard M. Grinnell Jr. , Western Michigan University Follow Yvonne Unrau , Western Michigan University Follow

Social Work

Document Type

Description.

This book is the longest standing and most widely adopted text in the field of social work research and evaluation. Since the first edition in 1981, it has been designed to provide beginning social work students the basic methodological foundation they need in order to successfully complete more advanced research courses that focus on single-system designs or program evaluations. Its content is explained in extraordinarily clear everyday language which is then illustrated with social work examples that social work students not only can understand, but appreciate as well. Many of the examples concern women and minorities, and special emphasis is given to the application of research methods to the study of these groups. Without a doubt, the major strength of this book is that it is written by social workers for social work students. The editors have once again secured an excellent and diverse group of social work research educators. The 31 contributors know firsthand, from their own extensive teaching and practice experiences, what social work students need to know in relation to research. They have subjected themselves to a discipline totally uncommon in compendia-that is, writing in terms of what is most needed for an integrated basic research methods book, rather than writing in line with their own predilections.

Call number in WMU's library

HV11 .S63 2005 (Waldo Library, WMU Authors Collection, First Floor)

Publication Date

Cengage Learning

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Citation for published book

Grinnell, Richard M, and Yvonne A. Unrau. Social Work Research and Evaluation: Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. Print.

Recommended Citation

Grinnell, Richard M. Jr. and Unrau, Yvonne, "Social Work Research and Evaluation: Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches" (2005). All Books and Monographs by WMU Authors . 306. https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/books/306

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SWRK/399 Research and Evaluation in Social Work Practice

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Course level:  Undergraduate

Students will learn ethical, culturally informed, anti-racist, and anti-oppressive approaches to critically evaluate research to inform decision making in their practice and articulate how their practice experience informs research and evaluation decisions. The course will include ways to analyze inherent bias in current literature and research. Students will learn to articulate and share research findings in ways that are usable to a variety of clients and constituencies.

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The link between social work research and practice

When thinking about social work, some may consider the field to solely focus on clinical interventions with individuals or groups.

There may be a mistaken impression that research is not a part of the social work profession. This is completely false. Rather, the two have been and will continue to need to be intertwined.

This guide covers why social workers should care about research, how both social work practice and social work research influence and guide each other, how to build research skills both as a student and as a professional working in the field, and the benefits of being a social worker with strong research skills. 

A selection of social work research jobs are also discussed.  

• Social workers and research
• Evidence-based practice
• Practice and research
• Research and practice
• Build research skills
• Social worker as researcher
• Benefits of research skills
• Research jobs

Why should social workers care about research?

Sometimes it may seem as though social work practice and social work research are two separate tracks running parallel to each other – they both seek to improve the lives of clients, families and communities, but they don’t interact. This is not the way it is supposed to work.

Research and practice should be intertwined, with each affecting the other and improving processes on both ends, so that it leads to better outcomes for the population we’re serving.

Section 5 of the NASW Social Work Code of Ethics is focused on social workers’ ethical responsibilities to the social work profession. There are two areas in which research is mentioned in upholding our ethical obligations: for the integrity of the profession (section 5.01) and for evaluation and research (section 5.02). 

Some of the specific guidance provided around research and social work include:

• 5.01(b): …Social workers should protect, enhance, and improve the integrity of the profession through appropriate study and research, active discussion, and responsible criticism of the profession.
• 5.01(d): Social workers should contribute to the knowledge base of social work and share with colleagues their knowledge related to practice, research, and ethics…
• 5.02(a) Social workers should monitor and evaluate policies, the implementation of programs, and practice interventions.
• 5.02(b) Social workers should promote and facilitate evaluation and research to contribute to the development of knowledge.
• 5.02(c) Social workers should critically examine and keep current with emerging knowledge relevant to social work and fully use evaluation and research evidence in their professional practice.
• 5.02(q) Social workers should educate themselves, their students, and their colleagues about responsible research practices.

Evidence-based practice and evidence-based treatment

In order to strengthen the profession and determine that the interventions we are providing are, in fact, effective, we must conduct research. When research and practice are intertwined, this leads practitioners to develop evidence-based practice (EBP) and evidence-based treatment (EBT).

Evidence-based practice is, according to The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) , a process involving creating an answerable question based on a client or organizational need, locating the best available evidence to answer the question, evaluating the quality of the evidence as well as its applicability, applying the evidence, and evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency of the solution. 

Evidence-based treatment is any practice that has been established as effective through scientific research according to a set of explicit criteria (Drake et al., 2001). These are interventions that, when applied consistently, routinely produce improved client outcomes. 

For example, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) was one of a variety of interventions for those with anxiety disorders. Researchers wondered if CBT was better than other intervention options in producing positive, consistent results for clients.

So research was conducted comparing multiple types of interventions, and the evidence (research results) demonstrated that CBT was the best intervention.

The anecdotal evidence from practice combined with research evidence determined that CBT should become the standard treatment for those diagnosed with anxiety. Now more social workers are getting trained in CBT methods in order to offer this as a treatment option to their clients.

How does social work practice affect research?

Social work practice provides the context and content for research. For example, agency staff was concerned about the lack of nutritional food in their service area, and heard from clients that it was too hard to get to a grocery store with a variety of foods, because they didn’t have transportation, or public transit took too long. 

So the agency applied for and received a grant to start a farmer’s market in their community, an urban area that was considered a food desert. This program accepted their state’s version of food stamps as a payment option for the items sold at the farmer’s market.

The agency used their passenger van to provide free transportation to and from the farmer’s market for those living more than four blocks from the market location.

The local university also had a booth each week at the market with nursing and medical students checking blood pressure and providing referrals to community agencies that could assist with medical needs. The agency was excited to improve the health of its clients by offering this program.

But how does the granting foundation know if this was a good use of their money? This is where research and evaluation comes in. Research could gather data to answer a number of questions. Here is but a small sample:

• How many community members visited each week and purchased fruits and vegetables? 
• How many took advantage of the transportation provided, and how many walked to the market? 
• How many took advantage of the blood pressure checks? Were improvements seen in those numbers for those having repeat blood pressure readings throughout the market season? 
• How much did the self-reported fruit and vegetable intake increase for customers? 
• What barriers did community members report in visiting and buying food from the market (prices too high? Inconvenient hours?)
• Do community members want the program to continue next year?
• Was the program cost-effective, or did it waste money by paying for a driver and for gasoline to offer free transportation that wasn’t utilized? What are areas where money could be saved without compromising the quality of the program?
• What else needs to be included in this program to help improve the health of community members?

How does research affect social work practice?

Research can guide practice to implement proven strategies. It can also ask the ‘what if’ or ‘how about’ questions that can open doors for new, innovative interventions to be developed (and then research the effectiveness of those interventions).

Engel and Schutt (2017) describe four categories of research used in social work:

• Descriptive research is research in which social phenomena are defined and described. A descriptive research question would be ‘How many homeless women with substance use disorder live in the metro area?’
• Exploratory research seeks to find out how people get along in the setting under question, what meanings they give to their actions, and what issues concern them. An example research question would be ‘What are the barriers to homeless women with substance use disorder receiving treatment services?’
• Explanatory research seeks to identify causes and effects of social phenomena. It can be used to rule out other explanations for findings and show how two events are related to each other.  An explanatory research question would be ‘Why do women with substance use disorder become homeless?’
• Evaluation research describes or identifies the impact of social programs and policies. This type of research question could be ‘How effective was XYZ treatment-first program that combined housing and required drug/alcohol abstinence in keeping women with substance use disorder in stable housing 2 years after the program ended?’

Each of the above types of research can answer important questions about the population, setting or intervention being provided. This can help practitioners determine which option is most effective or cost-efficient or that clients are most likely to adhere to. In turn, this data allows social workers to make informed choices on what to keep in their practice, and what needs changing. 

How to build research skills while in school

There are a number of ways to build research skills while a student.  BSW and MSW programs require a research course, but there are other ways to develop these skills beyond a single class:

• Volunteer to help a professor working in an area of interest. Professors are often excited to share their knowledge and receive extra assistance from students with similar interests.
• Participate in student research projects where you’re the subject. These are most often found in psychology departments. You can learn a lot about the informed consent process and how data is collected by volunteering as a research participant.  Many of these studies also pay a small amount, so it’s an easy way to earn a bit of extra money while you’re on campus. 
• Create an independent study research project as an elective and work with a professor who is an expert in an area you’re interested in.  You’d design a research study, collect the data, analyze it, and write a report or possibly even an article you can submit to an academic journal.
• Some practicum programs will have you complete a small evaluation project or assist with a larger research project as part of your field education hours. 
• In MSW programs, some professors hire students to conduct interviews or enter data on their funded research projects. This could be a good part time job while in school.
• Research assistant positions are more common in MSW programs, and these pay for some or all your tuition in exchange for working a set number of hours per week on a funded research project.

How to build research skills while working as a social worker

Social service agencies are often understaffed, with more projects to complete than there are people to complete them.

Taking the initiative to volunteer to survey clients about what they want and need, conduct an evaluation on a program, or seeing if there is data that has been previously collected but not analyzed and review that data and write up a report can help you stand out from your peers, be appreciated by management and other staff, and may even lead to a raise, a promotion, or even new job opportunities because of the skills you’ve developed.

Benefits of being a social worker with strong research skills

Social workers with strong research skills can have the opportunity to work on various projects, and at higher levels of responsibility. 

Many can be promoted into administration level positions after demonstrating they understand how to conduct, interpret and report research findings and apply those findings to improving the agency and their programs.

There’s also a level of confidence knowing you’re implementing proven strategies with your clients. 

Social work research jobs

There are a number of ways in which you can blend interests in social work and research. A quick search on Glassdoor.com and Indeed.com retrieved the following positions related to social work research:

• Research Coordinator on a clinical trial offering psychosocial supportive interventions and non-addictive pain treatments to minimize opioid use for pain.
• Senior Research Associate leading and overseeing research on a suite of projects offered in housing, mental health and corrections.
• Research Fellow in a school of social work
• Project Policy Analyst for large health organization
• Health Educator/Research Specialist to implement and evaluate cancer prevention and screening programs for a health department
• Research Interventionist providing Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for insomnia patients participating in a clinical trial
• Research Associate for Child Care and Early Education
• Social Services Data Researcher for an organization serving adults with disabilities.
• Director of Community Health Equity Research Programs evaluating health disparities.

No matter your population or area of interest, you’d likely be able to find a position that integrated research and social work. 

Social work practice and research are and should remain intertwined. This is the only way we can know what questions to ask about the programs and services we are providing, and ensure our interventions are effective. 

There are many opportunities to develop research skills while in school and while working in the field, and these skills can lead to some interesting positions that can make a real difference to clients, families and communities. 

Drake, R. E., Goldman, H., Leff, H. S., Lehman, A. F., Dixon, L., Mueser, K. T., et al. (2001). Implementing evidence-based practices in routine mental health service settings. Psychiatric Services, 52(2), 179-182. 

Engel, R.J., & Schutt, R.K. (2017). The Practice of Research in Social Work. Sage.

National Association of Social Workers. (n.d). Evidence Based Practice. Retrieved from: https://www.socialworkers.org/News/Research-Data/Social-Work-Policy-Research/Evidence-Based-Practice

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