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ERIC Number: EJ1144216
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2017-Jul
Pages: 9
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1049-7315
EISSN: N/A
The Epistemological Challenges of Social Work Intervention Research
Garrow, Eve E.; Hasenfeld, Yeheskel
Research on Social Work Practice, v27 n4 p494-502 Jul 2017
We argue that the dominance of an empiricist epistemology in social work research steers much of the research away from studying and explaining the structural forces that cause the conditions of oppression, exploitation, and social exclusion that are at the roots of the social problems addressed by the profession. It does so because it assumes that the research enterprise can be insulated from the broader cultural, socioeconomic, and political forces that inherently slant the research to echo dominant ideologies that celebrate individualism. In contrast, we present the feminist standpoint epistemology, which directs researchers to start from the daily lives and conditions of the oppressed and marginalized. Such strong objectivity leads the researchers to interrogate the structural determinants of the oppressed and marginalized. We propose that it provides a more effective starting point for social work intervention research that supports the mission of the social work profession.
SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: http://sagepub.com
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A