Empiricism: An Impoverished Philosophy For Social Work Research

Abstract

This article argues that empiricism is an impoverished research framework for social work. This indictment is built on the inability of empiricism (despite occasional Procrustean efforts) to extend its framework to consider and explain how research beginnings and endings are determined by social values and what that means for social work action. From a starting point where some of the principles of empiricism are discussed, the article attempts to demonstrate empiricism's impoverishment by noting the way it characterises the relationship between fact and theory. It then explores an alternative epistemology and examines its suitability as a research framework for social work. This article seeks membership in a tradition where new fundamental insights are sought through critical analysis of the epistemological foundations of disciplines like psychology,¹ sociology², social work,³ economics,⁴ education,⁵ and anthropology.⁶