The previous chapters have focused on how social workers understand the world by using social science research methods, but what about social workers who aren’t researchers? In practice, social workers may not have time or interest to conduct experiments or focus groups for the purposes of scholarly publication. While the preceding chapters should provide you the information you need to understand the research conducted by professional researchers, social workers in practice still must use research skills to help their clients. This chapter will review three approaches to research that social workers will use while in practice.

Chapter Outline

• 15.1 Evaluation research
• 15.2 Single-subjects design
• 15.3 Action research

Content Advisory

This chapter discusses or mentions the following topics:  substance abuse.