The Role of Research in the Family Service Agency: Reflections Some 30 Years Later

Abstract

“The role of research in the Family Service Agency” is a topic that encompasses a variety of seemingly paradoxical, if not contraindicative, issues: social science research versus social work research, the researcher versus the practitioner, practice versus policy, academic research versus agency-based research, the generation of knowledge versus the application of research findings, and empirical research versus theoretical research. The issues exist in part because of the historical influences that shaped the development of the social sciences and the profession of social work and in part because of the differences in the size, structure, function, and resources of an agency. They are also due to differences in the nature, purpose, methodology, and design of research as well as to differences in the affinity of administrators and practitioners for the findings of research activities. (Caputo, 1985, p. 205)