Disentangling social workers’ judgements and rationales: A study of the actual use of knowledge in diagnosis and treatment
(2018) NORDPRO 2018: Magt, teknologi og mennesker - samtidige udfordringer for professionelle og borgere- Abstract
- One of the central assumptions of modernity is that the problems faced by society are best resolved through the use of scientific knowledge. Indeed, during the past century, the professions have both become certified and expected to base their work on this form of knowledge. In contemporary social work, this assumption is embedded in the notion of evidence-based practice, which has become the leading mode of practice. However, many scholars of social work maintain that practitioners are better guided in their work by practice-based wisdom than by research. Other researchers have noted that the space available for knowledge use in social work practice is limited, due to political and organizational regulations. This study proceeds from the... (More)
- One of the central assumptions of modernity is that the problems faced by society are best resolved through the use of scientific knowledge. Indeed, during the past century, the professions have both become certified and expected to base their work on this form of knowledge. In contemporary social work, this assumption is embedded in the notion of evidence-based practice, which has become the leading mode of practice. However, many scholars of social work maintain that practitioners are better guided in their work by practice-based wisdom than by research. Other researchers have noted that the space available for knowledge use in social work practice is limited, due to political and organizational regulations. This study proceeds from the idea that it is vital to move away from the seemingly interminable discussions about which knowledge could or should be used in social work and to start operating with definitions of knowledge use that lend themselves to empirical investigation. The overall aim of this study is to examine how knowledge is used in social work practice and what knowledge is used. Knowledge and knowledge use is operationalized as the structures and contents of social workers’ reasoning, i.e. their judgements and rationales. By employing such a definition, this project explores the actual use of knowledge, as expressed in the judgements and rationales that together constitute the central acts of professional practice. The study includes a rigorous comparative approach for analysing topical issues about knowledge use, including whether cognitive tools can be used to make knowledge use more comprehensive and/or explicit, whether knowledge use in group discussions differs from that in individual reasoning and whether there are any differences between the knowledge use of experts and novices. The presentation will include selected results of a formal analysis of the arguments (applying Stephen Toulmin’s model of the argument) embedded in the data generated by means of think aloud interviews and structured interviews conducted with 35 practitioners working in the social services in southern Sweden. (Less)
- Abstract (Swedish)
- One of the central assumptions of modernity is that the problems faced by society are best resolved through the use of scientific knowledge. Indeed, during the past century, the professions have both become certified and expected to base their work on this form of knowledge. In contemporary social work, this assumption is embedded in the notion of evidence-based practice, which has become the leading mode of practice. However, many scholars of social work maintain that practitioners are better guided in their work by practice-based wisdom than by research. Other researchers have noted that the space available for knowledge use in social work practice is limited, due to political and organizational regulations. This study proceeds from the... (More)
- One of the central assumptions of modernity is that the problems faced by society are best resolved through the use of scientific knowledge. Indeed, during the past century, the professions have both become certified and expected to base their work on this form of knowledge. In contemporary social work, this assumption is embedded in the notion of evidence-based practice, which has become the leading mode of practice. However, many scholars of social work maintain that practitioners are better guided in their work by practice-based wisdom than by research. Other researchers have noted that the space available for knowledge use in social work practice is limited, due to political and organizational regulations. This study proceeds from the idea that it is vital to move away from the seemingly interminable discussions about which knowledge could or should be used in social work and to start operating with definitions of knowledge use that lend themselves to empirical investigation. The overall aim of this study is to examine how knowledge is used in social work practice and what knowledge is used. Knowledge and knowledge use is operationalized as the structures and contents of social workers’ reasoning, i.e. their judgements and rationales. By employing such a definition, this project explores the actual use of knowledge, as expressed in the judgements and rationales that together constitute the central acts of professional practice. The study includes a rigorous comparative approach for analysing topical issues about knowledge use, including whether cognitive tools can be used to make knowledge use more comprehensive and/or explicit, whether knowledge use in group discussions differs from that in individual reasoning and whether there are any differences between the knowledge use of experts and novices. The presentation will include selected results of a formal analysis of the arguments (applying Stephen Toulmin’s model of the argument) embedded in the data generated by means of think aloud interviews and structured interviews conducted with 35 practitioners working in the social services in southern Sweden. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/a9698fae-41bf-43da-90c7-1295ad182a6e
- author
- Wallander, Lisa LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2018-11-08
- type
- Contribution to conference
- publication status
- published
- subject
- conference name
- NORDPRO 2018: Magt, teknologi og mennesker - samtidige udfordringer for professionelle og borgere
- conference location
- Copenhagen, Denmark
- conference dates
- 2018-11-08 - 2018-11-09
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- a9698fae-41bf-43da-90c7-1295ad182a6e
- date added to LUP
- 2019-05-24 13:43:23
- date last changed
- 2019-05-24 15:58:52
@misc{a9698fae-41bf-43da-90c7-1295ad182a6e,
abstract = {{One of the central assumptions of modernity is that the problems faced by society are best resolved through the use of scientific knowledge. Indeed, during the past century, the professions have both become certified and expected to base their work on this form of knowledge. In contemporary social work, this assumption is embedded in the notion of evidence-based practice, which has become the leading mode of practice. However, many scholars of social work maintain that practitioners are better guided in their work by practice-based wisdom than by research. Other researchers have noted that the space available for knowledge use in social work practice is limited, due to political and organizational regulations. This study proceeds from the idea that it is vital to move away from the seemingly interminable discussions about which knowledge could or should be used in social work and to start operating with definitions of knowledge use that lend themselves to empirical investigation. The overall aim of this study is to examine how knowledge is used in social work practice and what knowledge is used. Knowledge and knowledge use is operationalized as the structures and contents of social workers’ reasoning, i.e. their judgements and rationales. By employing such a definition, this project explores the actual use of knowledge, as expressed in the judgements and rationales that together constitute the central acts of professional practice. The study includes a rigorous comparative approach for analysing topical issues about knowledge use, including whether cognitive tools can be used to make knowledge use more comprehensive and/or explicit, whether knowledge use in group discussions differs from that in individual reasoning and whether there are any differences between the knowledge use of experts and novices. The presentation will include selected results of a formal analysis of the arguments (applying Stephen Toulmin’s model of the argument) embedded in the data generated by means of think aloud interviews and structured interviews conducted with 35 practitioners working in the social services in southern Sweden.}},
author = {{Wallander, Lisa}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{11}},
title = {{Disentangling social workers’ judgements and rationales: A study of the actual use of knowledge in diagnosis and treatment}},
year = {{2018}},
}