Uses of Research

• What gains/new insights/perspectives have you made about the uses of research to your future social work practice?
• How relevant is research to social work practice?
• What could research potentially do?
• How should social workers really think about the role of research?
• Do social workers have to choose between doing research and working for their clients? Are these two issues distinct or are they different sides of the same coin? (HINT: See Ch. 1)
• Please elaborate on your ideas. Use a meme/memes to summarize your perspectives. Why did you pick this particular meme?

AND THE RESEARCH CONTINUES LOL…..

Research… there are many reasons why we conduct research. As our book informed us the main reason is the compassion we have for our clients.  Research not only provides us new insights on the concern at hand. However, it provides us with information, knowledge, education that will later provide aid to us in being able to provide the best treatment/intervention, resources, and information to our future clients. 

As social workers we want to be able to benefit from the research and body of evidence on the interventions we are providing to our clients. The world is forever changing and as always, the research will continue to develop. With continuous research there will always be new ideas that arise for interventions that will assist in helping society. In every profession one has to be aware of the latest information to be able to have a continuous effective profession. 

Social workers should be open minded in their role of research. Regardless of your personal biases you have to be able and want to learn more about every possible intervention, topic, and resources that are related to your profession. If one was a client, one would want to go with the individual that was aware of the best treatment for oneself. The goal is to be productive in making our clients obtain their best possible outcome which will be an impact on their life. The goal as social workers is to be able to help others. In order to achieve this goal, we can’t allow ourselves to be focused on our personal perspective and beliefs. Not everyone has the same upbringing and background. We want to make a change and with one’s effort, it will be made! I mean, who wouldn’t want to learn more about interventions that are available that we may not be aware of? 

Social workers have to do research in order to properly work for their clients. The goal is to help our client with the scientific evidence that will provide us confidence in knowing that we are providing exceptional services and interventions. If we don’t research, we are denying our clients the opportunity to provide them their best possible outcome. Being educated with the latest research is part of our social work value of compassion. We have to keep our social work core values. Let’s get informed and make the change! 

As a social worker we have to do ALL the research in order to be fully informed. As you can see, we will do better than the FBI. WE GOT THIS!