Social workers follow evidence-based practice to identify effective interventions by staying current on the research literature and coming to a conclusion based on what they’ve found. The literature that has coalesced around a given intervention’s effectiveness is a direct result of the scholarly conversation, a conversation which continues in perpetuity as new studies are conducted and new evidence emerges.
Social workers who have fluency in the scholarly conversation have the ability to synthesize a broad range of knowledge, will be empowered to participate in the conversation and apply it to their work. They recognize traditional scholarship may not be the only relevant perspective on an issue, and their valuable first-hand practice experience as well as their clients’ lived experiences inform their own contributions to the scholarly conversation in ways that can be enriching.
Social work librarians invite students to consider how they might contribute to the scholarly conversation: How do their own experiences in the field, in the classroom, at work, from life itself speak and respond to the current conversation or the absence thereof? How are different research articles in conversation with one another and with the personal experiences of the affected populations?
It is important to remind social work students that voices beyond the gold-standard of peer review are worth considering as part of the conversation. Librarians prompt their students to ask about the role of policy papers, government documents, non-profit web sources, investigative magazine articles, and news reports as well as blogs and social media posts in the evidence base. Further consideration should also be given to alternate information outputs or underfunded news outlets, including those beyond a US-based context. Considering a social justice lens, social work librarians prompt students’ evaluation of how non-English voices or underrepresented individuals, groups, and communities add to the conversation or are affected by systematic injustice.
Social work librarians encourage students to conceptualize scholarship as a disciplinary and cross-disciplinary (interprofessional) conversation and empower them to participate as budding scholars. When students understand "that they can be participants in scholarly conversations [it] encourages them to think of research not as a task of collecting information but instead as a task of constructing meaning" (Simmons, 2005, p. 299).
Ethical Standard 1.05 -- Cultural Competence
(a) “Social workers should obtain education about … the nature of social diversity and oppression…”
Ethical Standard 2.05 -- Consultation
(b) “Social workers should seek consultation only from colleagues who havedemonstrated knowledge, expertise, and competence related to the subject of the consultation.”
Ethical Standard 3.02 -- Education and Training
(a) “Social workers who function as educators, field instructors for students, or trainers should…provide instruction based on the most current information and knowledge available in the profession.”
Ethical Standard 4.01 -- Competence
(b) “Social workers should critically examine and keep current with emerging knowledge relevant to social work. Social workers should routinely review the professional literature and participate in continuing education relevant to social work practice and social work ethics.”
(c) “Social workers should base practice on recognized knowledge, including empirically based knowledge, relevant to social work..”
Ethical Standard 4.08 -- Acknowledging Credit
(b) “Social workers should honestly acknowledge the work of and the contributions made by others.”
Ethical Standard 5.01 -- Integrity of the Profession
(b) "Social workers should protect, enhance, and improve the integrity of the profession through appropriate study and research, active discussion, and responsible criticism of the profession."
(c) "Social workers should contribute time and professional expertise to activities that promote respect for the value, integrity, and competence of the social work profession. These activities may include teaching, research, consultation, service, legislative testimony, presentations in the community, and participation in their professional organizations.”
(d) "Social workers should contribute to the knowledge base of social work and share with colleagues their knowledge related to practice, research, and ethics. Social workers should seek to contribute to the profession's literature and to share their knowledge at professional meetings and conferences.”
Ethical Standard 5.02 -- Evaluation and Research
(b) "Social workers should promote and facilitate evaluation and research to contribute to the development of knowledge.”
(c) “Social workers should critically examine and keep current with emerging knowledge relevant to social work and fully use evaluation and research evidence in their professional practice.”
Competency 1: Demonstrate Ethical and Professional Behavior
(a) "Social workers make ethical decisions by applying...ethical conduct of research…as appropriate to the context."
Competency 3: Engage Anti-racism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (ADEI) in Practice
(a) “Social workers demonstrate anti-racist and anti-oppressive social work practice at the...research...level…"
(b) “Social workers demonstrate cultural humility by applying critical reflection, self-awareness, and self-regulation to manage the influence of bias, power, privilege, and values in working with clients and constituencies, acknowledging them as experts of their own lived experiences.”
Competency 4: Engage In Practice-Informed Research and Research-Informed Practice
“Social workers use ethical, culturally informed, anti-racist, and anti-oppressive approaches in conducting research and building knowledge…Social workers understand the value of evidence derived from interprofessional and diverse research methods, approaches, and sources.”
(a) “Social workers apply research findings to inform and improve practice, policy, and programs.”
(b) “Social workers identify ethical, culturally informed, anti-racist, and anti-oppressive strategies that address inherent biases for use in quantitative and qualitative research methods to advance the purposes of social work.”
Competency 6: Engage with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities
(a) “Social workers apply…interprofessional conceptual frameworks to engage with clients and constituencies.”
Competency 7: Assess Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities
(a) “Social workers apply….culturally responsive and interprofessional conceptual frameworks when assessing clients and constituencies.”
(b) “Social workers…[collaborate] with clients and constituencies in developing a mutually agreed-upon plan.”
Competency 8: Intervene with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities
(a) “Social workers engage with clients and constituencies to critically choose and implement culturally responsive, evidence-informed interventions to achieve client and constituency goals.”
Competency 9: Evaluate Practice with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities
“Social workers understand…interprofessional conceptual frameworks and critically evaluate and apply this knowledge in evaluating outcomes. Social workers use qualitative and quantitative methods for evaluating outcomes and practice effectiveness.”
Learning Objective: Locate references in an article and describe how they are in conversation with one another.
Activity: In small groups, have students find an article that interests them. Have them find one of the articles in the references. How are these articles similar or different? Do they examine different aspects of the same problem? If they are research articles, do they use similar methods?
Learning Objective: Understand the differences between scholarly and news resources as a part of the information ecosystem.
Activity: In small groups, have students find a news article that references a research study. Then have the students locate that study. How do these two articles differ? Who is writing them and who are their audiences?
Learning Objective: Organize and analyze the differences and similarities of ideas in the scholarly conversation on a given topic.
Activity: In small groups, have students find a different article on the same topic for each group. As a class, use concept mapping to identify the similarities and differences. Write down all of the references they have in common. Discuss how they both add new pieces to the scholarly conversation.
