Objective: This article advances understanding of social work science by examining the content and methods of highly utilized or cited journal articles in social work. Methods: A data base of the 100 most frequently cited articles from 79 social work journals was coded and categorized into three primary domains: content, research versus…

This response recasts the issues highlighted by Longhofer and Floersch in terms of the continuing dynamics of the neoliberal knowledge economy, how this impacts on what is researched by the social work academy, how it is researched, and what type of research is recognized. While Longhofer and Floersch's turn to critical realism is welcomed, this…

Larry Palinkas advances the developing science of social work by providing an explanation of how social science research methods, both qualitative and quantitative, can improve our capacity to draw casual inferences. Understanding causal relations and making causal inferences--with the promise of being able to predict and control outcomes--is…

The article reports on the findings of a review of empirical studies examining the implementation of evidence-based practice (EBP) in the human services. Eleven studies were located that defined EBP as a research-informed, clinical decision-making process and identified barriers and facilitators to EBP implementation. A thematic analysis of the…

In this essay, the authors consider the challenge made by two keynote speakers at recent social work research conferences, one in the United States and the other in Europe. Both spoke of a knowledge crisis in social work. Both John Brekke (Society for Social Work and Research) and Peter Sommerfeld (First Annual European Conference for Social Work…

Advocacy is central to the social work profession's commitment to social betterment and justice, yet much of what we know about it is based on conventional wisdom. We have little evidence on the effectiveness of interventions and even less on the costs and benefits of advocacy campaigns. This article discusses some of the conceptual and…

This article addresses a void in the literature about social work research and evaluation (R&E) designs, in particular related to the quality of its published work. Data were collected by reviewing three empirically oriented journals, "Research on Social Work Practice", "Journal of Social Service Research", and "Social Work Research" over three…

Despite the growing knowledge base on evidence-based practices in social work and medicine, there is a large gap between what is known and what is consistently done. Implementation research is the study of methods to promote the uptake of research findings into routine practice. In this article, we describe the rationale for implementation…

This article summarizes critical evaluation needs, challenges, and lessons learned in translational research. Evaluation can play a key role in enhancing successful application of research-based programs and tools as well as informing program refinement and future research. Discussion centers on what is unique about evaluating programs and…

This article concerns the introduction of evidence-based practice (EBP) in foundation research. Five suggestions are discussed: (a) EBP relative to other epistemologies, (b) EBP in the context of the history of science, (c) research designs and levels of EBP, (d) EBP and measurement, and (e) systematic reviews as a review topic of the content of…

This article explores some of the main challenges of improving the teaching of evidence-based practice in schools of social work. The priority challenges are the needs for a general professional cultural shift, for adequate curricula, to overcome the controversy of scientific methodology, to better understand the state of the art of the…

This keynote address argues that in order for baccalaureate and masters degree students to apply research to make better judgments and decisions in their life-affecting practice and in response to the information revolution, the helping professions need to redesign (from the bottom up) not overhaul (make a few changes in) the way research methods…

Responds to criticism by Levy, Wong, Benbenisty, and Mattaini (1996) of Rubin and Knox's (1996) article (CG 548 550) concerning data analysis in single-case evaluations. Refutes assertions that the intention of the article was to reject all single-case methodology. The intention was to emphasize the limitations inherent in applying such methods in…

Objective: This study examined the extent to which conclusions of published outcome studies contain phrases that could be misconstrued as implying more empirical support than is warranted. Methods: All articles (N = 138) reporting outcome studies from 2000 to 2005 in two social work research journals and two topical database searches were assessed…

The author describes her 30 years of experience in the design and conduct of a series of large-scale randomized controlled studies in the field of public welfare. She describes how these studies came about, what lessons can be drawn about research methods, what was learned about the effectiveness of these programs (the National Supported Work…