Response: Training Doctoral Students to be Scientists

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to begin framing doctoral training for a science of social work. This process starts by examining two seemingly simple questions: “What is a social work scientist?” and “How do we train social work scientists?” In answering the first question, some basic assumptions and concepts about what constitutes a “social work scientist” are articulated, and how this individual is distinct from a “sharp” (a researcher with no independent vision), a scholar, and even a scientist within other disciplines. In responding to the second, these concepts are operationalized into educational principles necessary to creating new social work scientists.