The debate over the legitimacy of qualitative and quantitative research approaches
has been of interest to social workers over the last 25 years. The authors suggest
that a parallel debate among qualitative researchers is now taking shape. Where once
the disagreement was between metaphysical or naive realists and post-positivists,
the new debate is between critical realists and constructionists. Like the
metaphysical realists before them, the critical realists are calling for
methodological hegemony and reject as nonscientific research that is based on
constructionist ontologies and epistemologies. The authors are calling for
détente in this debate. Ontology is not provable; it is ultimately based
on belief. Just as our profession champions diversity in belief systems regarding
other phenomena, research that reflects ontological diversity can also strengthen
social work by providing practitioners and scholars greater access to a wide range
of information.
Bakhtin, M.
(1986) Speech Genres and Other Late Essays.
Austin: University of Texas Press
.
2.
Benhabib, S.
(1986) Critique, Norm and Utopia: A Study of the Foundations
of Critical Theory.
New York: Columbia University Press
.
3.
Besthorn, F.
and
McMillien, D.
(2002)
‘The Oppression of Women and Nature: Eco-feminism as a Framework
for an Expanded Ecological Social Work’
, Families in Society83(3):
221-232
.
4.
Bhaskar, R.
(1978) A Realist Theory of Science.
Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities Press
.
5.
Bhaskar, R.
(1979) The Possibility of Naturalism.
Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities Press
.
6.
Bookchin, M.
(1990) The Philosophy of Social Ecology.
Montreal: Black Rose Books
.
7.
Brekke, J.
(1986/1995) ‘Scientific Imperatives in Social
Work Research: Pluralism is not Skepticism’, in
K. Tyson
(ed.) New Foundations for Scientific Social and Behavioral Research: The
Heuristic Paradigm.
Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon
.
8.
Culler, J.
(1986) Ferdinand de Saussure.
Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press
.
9.
David, M.
(2005)
‘The Correspondence Theory of Truth’
, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy,
http://plato.standford.edu/enries/truth-correspondence/ (consulted August 2005).
10.
Davis, L. V.
(1985)
‘Female and Male Voices in Social Work’
, Social Work30(2):
106-113
.
11.
Gergen, K. J.
(1985)
‘The Social Constructionist Movement in Modern Psychology’
, American Psychologist40(3):
266-275
.
12.
Gergen, K. J.
(1999) An Invitation to Social Construction.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
.
13.
Gergen, K. J.
(2003)
‘Action Research and Orders of Democracy’
, Action Research1(1):
39-53
.
14.
Gibbs, L.
and
Gambrill, E.
(2002)
‘Evidence-based Practice: Counter-arguements to Objections’
, Research on Social Work Practice12(3):
452-477
.
15.
Habermas, J.
(1972) Knowledge and Human Interest.
Boston, MA: Beacon Press
.
16.
Hartman, A.
(1990)
‘Many Ways of Knowing’
, Social Work35(1):
3-4
.
17.
Hartman, A.
(1992)
‘In Search of Subjugated Knowledge’
, Social Work37(6):
483-484
.
18.
Heineman, M. B.
(1981)
‘The Obsolete Scientific Imperative in Social Work Research’
, Social Service Review55(3):
371-397
.
19.
Heineman-Pieper, J.
,
Tyson, K.
and
Pieper, M. H.
(2002)
‘Doing Good Science without Sacrificing Values: Why the Heuristic
Paradigm is the Best Choice for Social Work’
, Families in Society83(1):
15-28
.
20.
Houston, S.
(1999)
‘Developing Critical Social Work in Theory and in Practice: Child
Protection and Communicative Reason’
, Child & Family Social Work4(4):
315-324
.
21.
Houston, S.
(2001a)
‘Beyond Social Constructionism: Critical Realism and Social Work’
, British Journal of Social Work31(6):
845-861
.
22.
Houston, S.
(2001b)
‘Transcending the Fissure in Risk Theory: Critical Realism and
Child Welfare’
, Child & Family Social Work6(3):
219-228
.
23.
Houston, S.
(2003)
‘A Method from the “Lifeworld”: Some
Possibilities for Person Centered Planning for Children in Care’
, Children & Society17(1):
57-70
.
24.
Houston, S.
and
Campbell, J.
(2001)
‘Using Critical Theory to Develop a Conceptual Framework for
Comparative Social Work’
, International Journal of Social Welfare10(1):
66-84
.
25.
Houston, S.
,
Magili, T.
,
McCollum, M.
and
Spratt, T.
(2001)
‘Developing Creative Solutions to the Problems of Children and
their Families: Communicative Reason and the Use of Forum Theater’
, Child & Family Social Work6(4):
285-293
.
26.
Howard, M.
,
McMillen, C.
and
Pollio, D.
(2003)
‘Teaching Evidence-based Practice: Toward a New Paradigm for
Social Work Education’
, Research on Social Work Practice13(2):
234-260
.
27.
Hudson, W.
(1982/1995) ‘Scientific Imperatives in Social
Work Research and Practice’, in
K. Tyson
(ed.) New Foundations for Scientific Social and Behavioral Research: The
Heuristic Paradigm.
Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon
.
28.
Karger, H. J.
(1983)
‘Science, Research and Social Work: Who Controls the Profession?’
, Social Work28(3):
200-205
.
29.
King, A.
(1999)
‘The Impossibility of Naturalism: The Antinomies of
Bhasjar’s Realism’
, Journal of Theory and Social Behavior29(3):
267-288
.
30.
Kondrat, M. E.
(1992)
‘Reclaiming the Practical: Formal and Substantive Rationality in
Social Work’
, Social Service Review66(2):
237-255
.
31.
Levinas, E.
(1996) Emmanuel Levinas: Basic Philosophical Writings.
Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press
.
32.
Ma, J.
(1999)
‘Social Work Practice with Transsexuals in Hong Kong who Apply
for Sex Reassignment Surgery’
, Social Work In Health Care29(2):
85-103
.
33.
Mäntysaari, M.
(2005)
‘Realism as a Foundation for Social Work Knowledge’
, Qualitative Social Work4(1):
87-98
.
34.
Moffatt, K.
,
George, U.
,
Lee, B.
and
McGrath, S.
(2005)
‘Community Practice Researchers as Reflective Learners’
, British Journal of Social Work35(1):
89-104
.
35.
Närhi, K.
(2002)
‘Transferable and Negotiated Knowledge: Constructing Social Work
Expertise for the Future’
, Journal of Social Work2(3):
317-336
.
36.
National Association of Social Workers (NASW)
(1996) ‘Code of Ethics’,
http://www.socialworkers.org/pubs/code/code.asp (consulted August 2005)
37.
Nietzsche, F.
(1998) On the Genealogy of Morality.
Oxford: Oxford University Press
.
38.
Ornstein, E.
and
Ganzer, C.
(2003)
‘Dialectical Constructivism in Clinical Social Work: An
Exploration of Irwin Hoffman’s Approach to Treatment’
, Clinical Social Work Journal31(4):
355-369
.
39.
Parton, N.
(2003)
‘Rethinking Professional Practice: The Contributions of Social
Constructionism and the Feminist “Ethics of Care”’
, British Journal of Social Work33(1):
1-16
.
40.
Parton, N.
and
O’Byrn, P.
(2000) Constructive Social Work: Toward a New Practice.
New York: Palgrave
.
41.
Patton, M.
(2002)
‘Two Decades of Development in Qualitative Inquiry’
, Qualitative Social Work1(3):
261-283
.
42.
Peile, C.
(1988)
‘Research Paradigms in Social Work: From Stalemate to Creative Synthesis’
, Social Service Review62(1):
1-19
.
43.
Pieper, M. H.
(1989)
‘The Heuristic Paradigm: A Unifying and Comprehensive Approach to
Social Work Research’
, Smith College Studies in Social Work60(1):
8-34
.
44.
Pieper, M. H.
(1994) ‘Science, not Scientism: The Robustness
of Naturalistic Clinical Research’, in
E. Sherman
and
W. J. Reid
(eds) Qualitative Research in Social Work.
New York: Columbia University Press
.
45.
Polanyi, M.
(1962) Personal Knowledge: Towards a Post-critical
Philosophy.
Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press
.
46.
Qureshi, H.
(2004)
‘Evidence in Policy and Practice: What Kinds of Research Designs?’
, Journal of Social Work4(1):
7-23
.
47.
Rodwell, M. K.
(1998) Social Work, Constructivist Research.
New York: Garland Press
.
48.
Rorty, R.
(1979) Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press
.
49.
Rosen, A.
(1994)
‘Knowledge Use in Direct Practice’
, Social Service Review68(4):
561-577
.
50.
Rosen, A.
(2003)
‘Evidence-based Social Work Practice: Challenges and Promise’
, Social Work Research27(4):
197-208
.
51.
Saleebey, D.
(2004)
‘“The Power of Place”: Another Look at the Environment’
, Families in Society85(1):
7-16
.
52.
Sarkar, S.
(ed.) (1996) The Legacy of the Vienna Circle.
New York: Garland
.
53.
Saussure, F. de
(1966) Course in General Linguistics.
New York: McGraw-Hill
.
54.
Schon, D. A.
(1983) The Reflective Practitioner.
New York: Basic Books
.
55.
Schuerman, J.
(1982/1995) ‘The Obsolete Scientific Imperative
in Social Work Research’, in
K. Tyson
(ed.) New Foundations for Scientific Social and Behavioral Research: The
Heuristic Paradigm.
Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon
.
56.
Taylor, C.
and
White, S.
(2001)
‘Knowledge, Truth and Reflexivity: The Problem of Judgement in
Social Work’
, Journal of Social Work1(1):
37-59
.
57.
Thyer, B. A.
(2004)
‘What is Evidence-based Practice?’
, Brief Treatment and Crisis Intervention4(2):
167-176
.
58.
Tyson, K.
(1995) New Foundations for Scientific Social and Behavioral
Research: The Heuristic Paradigm.
Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon
.
59.
Weick, A.
(2000)
‘Hidden Voices’
, Social Work45(5):
395-403
.
60.
Witkin, S. L.
(1998)
‘Empirical Clinical Practice: A Critical Analysis’
, Social Work36:
158-165
.
61.
Witkin, S. L.
(2000)
‘Ethics-R-us’
, Social Work45(3):
197-200
.
