This subject highlights the importance of the research process for social work practice. Students will read and evaluate research relevant to key social work issues, as well as design a literature review strategy, and a research proposal. Students will evaluate practice-based evidence, as well as evidence-based practice, and critique the values and assumptions of knowledge construction and application (ontology, epistemology, methodology, and axiology).

Students will be introduced to qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods designs, and evaluate and apply these methods to their literature review and proposal. Students will investigate the production and analysis of social work research data, and the ethical application of this data to social work assessments and interventions. At the end of the subject, students will be able to critically assess and analyse the application and use of appropriate research methods, including sampling techniques, data collection, and analysis, demonstrating that research is not a value free process. Of significance is the importance of the application, as well as the production, of social work research for practice.