This special issue of the European Journal of Social Work brings a selection of papers presented at the Seventh European Conference for Social Work Research in 2017 initiated by European Social Work Research Association (ESWRA) and hosted by Aalborg University, Denmark. As the title says, the conference addressed challenges in social work research stemming from the diversity of interests, controversies, conflicts, barriers and dilemmas within the field of social work. Social work research is closely related to the field and complexities of social work and often in a way that involves different stakeholders such as practitioners, service users, teachers, students, politicians and administrators. This close relation raises a range of challenges but also potentially new possibilities for social work research – and social work – with regard to possibilities for collaboration within processes of research. Social work researchers are expected to be aware of this. Social work can in a very broad sense be considered embedded in a field of power relations stemming from a diversity of interests: political, economic and administrative interests, as well as interests related to knowledge production, the development of social work practice and service users. In social work research and/or social pedagogical research, different theoretical, methodological and empirical approaches interplay with different perceptions of social work. In that way social work research is deeply intertwined in the very same power relations that challenge social work. The purpose of this themed issue is to contribute to theoretical, methodological, empirical and practical knowledge about the challenges and potentialities related to this intricate relation between social work research and social work.
The issue brings together authors from different parts of Europe (north, south, east and west) and from the broader international research community (USA and Asia) giving an insight into both local and global concerns of relevance for social work and challenges in social work research. The 10 articles within this issue illuminate the potential conflicts, barriers and possibilities in relation to social work and social work research from different angles. Looking across these articles it is possible to discern some important themes and challenges.
One important theme is giving voice to people who are subject to social changes, welfare reforms and changes in social work practices, encouraging them to give words to their experiences and what Bourdieu and colleagues (in their 1999 text The Weight of the World: Social Suffering in Contemporary Society) term ‘silent’ forms of social suffering. The article by Gunn Strand Hutchinson and Johans Tveit Sandvin is an example of this effort as it explores the emergent voices of seniors with intellectual disability articulating their past experiences of living in institutional care and present lives in the community. The authors reflect on the methodological challenges connected to the issue of verbalising memories and experiences, which may be painful and difficult to comprehend. This touches on a general challenge when doing social work research on, for example, ‘user perspectives’: when wanting to ‘give voice’ to subjects and making service users heard. As Pols observes (in ‘Enacting appreciations: beyond the patient perspective’, Health Care Analysis, 13(3) 203–221) how do social workers gain the perspectives or voices of people who are not able to verbalise, make sense of their experiences and/or represent their individual situation in language?
This question is also central to researchers who seek to develop co-productive and participatory action research approaches that involve service users in addressing needs for social change. Inclusive, co-productive and practice research approaches to research focus on the collaboration between service users and researchers, their sharing of knowledge and experiences in order to promote the service users’ voices, visibility and power to make change in the local community and in the way research processes are implemented. Sue Hollinrake, Sara Spencer and Geof Dix give an example of this approach to research and the challenges and benefits that arise when citizens with disabilities, local authority and researchers are working together for emancipation: for effective, collective action and change.
A second central theme and challenge for social work research raised by the authors is facilitating ways in which practice and research can collaborate on creating emancipatory and empowering social work practices. The social work profession is defined by ideals of ‘emancipatory practice where the goals are the empowerment and liberation of people’ (IFSW 2014). However, there is often a gap between these lofty ideals and the everyday practice of social work, which is embedded in and influenced by different political, economic and administrative interests. Furthermore, there is often a gap between research and practice, as demonstrated in the contribution by Sigrid James, Leoni Lampe, Susan Behnken and Daniel Schulz; their (and other studies) show that theories and research only play a minor role in informing social work practice. In their articles Maja Lundemark Andersen, and Sara Serbati, Anne Moe, Gill Harold and Carmel Halton argue that a practice research approach that builds on close collaboration with social work practitioners can be a fruitful approach for bridging the gaps between ideals and everyday social work practice, research and practice. The authors argue that providing social workers with opportunities for critical reflection and discussion by drawing on research knowledge and a critical understanding of empowerment can contribute to improving practice for the benefit of the service users.
Developing critical consciousness and reflection is connected to acknowledging the existence of structural sources of oppression, discrimination and exclusion affecting individuals, groups and populations. Service users are often found to be in vulnerable and disadvantaged positions making the overarching principles of ‘respect for the inherent worth and dignity of human beings, doing no harm, respect for diversity and upholding human rights and social justice’ even more pressing (IFSW 2014). This also applies for social work research, when doing research with or among vulnerable people and populations, and a third theme in this special issue is the need to explore and develop our conceptualisation and realisation of an ethical practice in social work research. An example of this is the article by Sobočan, Bertotti and Strom-Gottfried where the authors argue that ethical dilemmas are inherent throughout the research process, which call for attention and sensitivity to vulnerable populations, issues of social justice and conflicts of interest, and respect for dignity and privacy.
This leads us to a fourth theme and central challenge for both social work and social work research: the pertinent question of addressing social justice issues, and accordingly the need to conceptualise what is meant by social justice and how social justice relates to power relations and institutional inequalities embedded in local as well as global concerns and transformations. The article by Willey-Sthapit, Valdovinos, Teyra and Borja focuses on this issue. Furthermore, a related concern is the question of how social work research can collaborate with social workers in the pursuit of social justice for vulnerable communities with whom they work by seeking to influence social policy and affect social change. This is the central theme of the contribution by Donnelly, Raghallaigh and Foreman.
A fifth central theme of this special issue is developing theoretical frameworks that include unnoticed aspects of social work, which are nevertheless fundamental for understanding the conditions for and processes of doing social work, for example the ways in which social work is socially and spatially embedded and how this affects the conditions, processes and practices of social work. An example of this is the article by Spatscheck. On another level this theoretical challenge also points to the significance of exploring and creating epistemological frameworks for integration between social work research and practice, creating a space where different types of knowledge can co-exist and inform the development of both social work research and social work. In his article, Hothersall argues that philosophical pragmatism has the potential to act as an organising theoretical framework for the enhancement of practice-based knowledge and research activity.
This issue’s articles and the themes indicated by them suggest that an ongoing challenge for social work research is to develop co-productive approaches and collaborative processes that foster new relations between social work research, social work and people in vulnerable positions. The novelty of such relations may lie in how they offer new ways of combining research ambitions related to the production of knowledge with broader societal and ethical ambitions related to giving voice to people, empowerment and social justice, but also to simply challenge and qualify research processes by involving lived experiences and hands-on knowledge in the research design, data collection, analysis, processes, etc. To facilitate such relations and processes requires social work research to engage even more in the barriers and dilemmas within the field of social work, potentially facing the challenge of becoming more involved in controversies related to conflicting interests. A way of addressing this challenge is to continue to develop our understanding of the shaping, reproduction and distribution of power relations across local and global social and spatial contexts, hindering or promoting new forms of co-production and collaboration between social work and social work research, but also to shed light on and involve conflicting interests and possible barriers as natural parts of collaborative and development processes between different partners. Such an understanding might require social work research to develop new theoretical and epistemological frameworks that go beyond the ruling relations of what science is.