Science and Social Work: A Critical Appraisal

by Stuart Kirk, William J. Reid

Overview

Science and Social Work is a critical appraisal of the strategies and methods that have been used to develop knowledge for social work practice. It identifies the major ways in which social workers have drawn upon scientific knowledge and techniques, placing each one in historical perspective by explaining the nature of the problems it was designed to solve and the philosophical, political, and practical questions it raised. Kirk and Reid offer a balanced appraisal of the promises, accomplishments, and limits of such approaches, demonstrating how the fruits of scientific research can aid clinical practice with individuals, families and groups.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780231529235
Publisher:	Columbia University Press
Publication date:	01/02/2002
Series:	NONE
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
Lexile:	1400L (what's this?)
File size:	16 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Stuart A. Kirk is Marjorie Crump Professor and chair of the Ph.D. program of the Department of Social Welfare, School of Public Policy and Social Research at UCLA.

William J. Reid is Distinguished Professor of Social Welfare at the State University of New York at Albany.

Table of Contents

1. Knowledge, Science, and the Profession of Social Work
2. Science and Social Work: A Historical Perspective
3. Client Problems as Organizing Foci for Knowledge
4. The Scientific Model in Practice: The 1960s and Beyond
5. Engineering Social Work Intervention
6. Computer-Assisted Social Work Practice: The Promise of Technology, by Stuart Kirk, William Reid, and Carrie Petrucci
7. Research-Based Practice
8. Research Dissemination and Utilization: Spreading the Word
9. Knowledge for Practice: Issues and Challenges

Editorial Reviews

This is a landmark book in the history of the relationship of social work research, as a science, and social work practice.

Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare

Kirk and Reid offer a clear eyed, empathic, yet sobering history, analysis and evaluation... of social work's failure to vigorously engage in the process of developing theories of practice and effective interventions.

Social Thought

[Kirk and Reid's] thoughtful new treatise is a significant contribution to the history of ideas in social work...well written, engaging...Science and Social Work should be required reading for graduate social work students and those of us who, by dint of age, do not have the long view of social work acquired by these two prominent scholars.

Journal of Social Service Research - Matthew O. Howard

[Kirk and Reid's] thoughtful new treatise is a significant contribution to the history of ideas in social work...well written, engaging... Science and Social Work should be required reading for graduate social work students and those of us who, by dint of age, do not have the long view of social work acquired by these two prominent scholars.

— Matthew O. Howard, George Warren Brown School of Social Work, Washington University

Journal of Social Service Research