Researcher? Social Worker? “Let us be Both”: Exploring the Binaries that Condition Graduate Social Work Research Training

Abstract

This paper summarizes key findings of three mixed-method studies examining Master of Social Work (MSW) students’ engagement with learning and conducting research. The studies surveyed student attitudes toward research (N=102); student perceptions of research self-efficacy (N=89); and student and instructor perceptions of the learning environment (N=109). The findings suggest that the research training environment is conditioned by the binaries of positivist vs. non-positivist epistemology and clinical social work training vs. research training. We emphasize the need to move beyond these binaries that condition MSW students’ research training to enable students to embrace research as a core social work activity.