In the shadow of Rashomon: pursuing polyphony in practice case studies within the Australian social security environment

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An evidence-based turn in social welfare environments has meant that traditional case accounts and narratives of welfare practice experiences are liable to be disparaged as unscientific and anecdotal. From a critical perspective, such narratives also risk de-contextualising power and organisational dynamics and providing a snapshot of a ‘case’ rather than unearthing broader lived experience. Research which focuses on the voices of service users, or narrates the background struggles of street-level workers has contributed to a more complex understanding of practice. However, even these approaches are vulnerable to accusations that they neglect other voices, particularly of managers and supervisors whose ‘hidden hand’ in development, training and support helps frame practice. Conceptual developments around dialogue and network practices which have emerged over the last two decades, particularly in the Nordic context, have stressed the role of multiple perspectives and ‘polyphony’ to understanding the complexity of social work and welfare practice. This paper describes an approach to building polyphonic research accounts of practice in an Australian setting, bringing together diverse perspectives and situating these in a local historical context. Developed for a study of reforms to interview and referral practices in the Australian social security environment, the approach traced the initial training of welfare staff, ongoing support from managers and social workers, and day-to-day encounters with clients. A case example is provided from the study which demonstrates the re-framing of case study ‘story’ into a complex multi-layered account of practice.