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Professor David Shemmings PhD Chair of Social Work and Deputy Head (Medway campus)

The next Researcher Development Initiative ( 2008-2010) Increasing the Competence and Confidence of Social Work Researchers An Action-learning Programme to develop Research Capacity. Professor David Shemmings PhD Chair of Social Work and Deputy Head (Medway campus)

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Professor David Shemmings PhD Chair of Social Work and Deputy Head (Medway campus)

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  1. The next Researcher Development Initiative (2008-2010)Increasing the Competence and Confidence of Social Work Researchers An Action-learning Programme to develop Research Capacity Professor David Shemmings PhD Chair of Social Work and Deputy Head (Medway campus) School of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Research University of Kent UK d.shemmings@kent.ac.uk (then click on ‘RDI 2’)

  2. Background • RDI 2 builds on the current Researcher Development Initiative • Made on behalf of the • Joint University Council Social Work Education Committee (JUC SWEC) • Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) • Scottish Institute for Excellence in Social Work Education (SIESWE) • Social Work and Policy (SWAP) HEA subject centre.

  3. Background • The period between the first RDI and this one has seen the publication of A Social Work Research Strategy in Higher Education: 2006-2020 by the JUC SWEC • see www.swap.ac.uk/research/strategy.asp • Key message • Major investment in social work and social care research in the UK is needed urgently to secure a radical change in capacity and capability

  4. Background to the Strategy • Social work and social care services are a vital component of public services in the UK • Adult care services alone were in contact with over three million people in England in 2003/4 • Well over 1.5 million people work in social work and social care services in the UK with more than £14 billion of public funds spent on social care services each year in England alone • Social care is a vital partner in health, education, child safeguarding and criminal justice agendas • But only 0.3% of the overall budget is spent on R&D, compared with 5.4% in health – i.e. 18 times less • Another example: 20 times the amount of R&D monies is spent on a GP than on a social worker.

  5. Background to the Strategy • As the discipline underpinning social work and social care research, social work has an historically weak research base and academic infrastructure • Lack of PG opportunities • esp. PhD studentships and bursaries • Journals, conferences and seminars • The reasons for the deficit are varied but have been well documented: • Diverse locations of SWK in HEIs • Lack of a secure base! • Absence of SWK degrees/quals at Oxbridge • Only recently has SWK had its own QAA benchmark statement • Joined with Social Policy and Administration in RAEs

  6. Background to the Strategy • Only recently identified as a separate discipline in ESRC, hence: • unrepresented on ESRC committees • impossible to gauge number of applications and awards • The ESRC Demographic Review of the UK Social Sciences (Mills et al, 2006) identifies social work as one of the smaller social sciences, with fewer than 600 permanent staff (out of a total of around 1050) • Only 44% of social work academics were research active in the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise (Fisher & Marsh, 2003)

  7. Background to the Strategy • It is also a subject area with 47% of its staff aged 50 or over • The historical lack of attention to research methods in social work education and training also influences the research capacity of social work academics (Orme & Powell, 2005) • This all affects the capacity of social work to deliver doctoral programmes (Orme, 2003, Orme & Powell, 2005).

  8. What’s distinctive about the SWK research strategy? • Uncommon for disciplines as a group have to an agreed position across HEIs nationally • In the US there is the IASWR (but it is not concerned primarily with HEIs) • Our national strategic research plan is, as far as we know, the first of its kind.

  9. Key strategic principles • The fundamental aims outlined in the strategy are to • Maximise the HEI contribution to social work and social care service improvement • Develop a strong evidence-informed base for social work and social care services • Build a workforce capable of using evidence critically • Support research in all HEIs (rather than develop ‘centres of excellence’) • Operate across the four countries.

  10. Key strategic principles • The strategy is aimed at social work research in HEIs … not for social work generally, social work employers, policy makers or allied academic disciplines • Encourage collaborative research arrangements between universities • The use of the terms ‘social work research’ or ‘social work and social care research’ vary depending on the audience.

  11. Background to RDI 2 • The social work academic sector is well placed to respond to a further investment. Recent activity to raise the quality and quantity of research in social work includes: • Knowledge reviews by the Social Care Institute for Excellence on research utilisation (Walter et al, 2004) • An overview of the relationship between the ESRC and Social Work funded by SCIE (Shaw et al, 2004) • Evaluation of the Kinds and Quality of Social Work Research funded by the ESRC, SCIE, the Scottish Institute for Excellence in Social Work Education (SIESWE), and JUC SWEC (Shaw et al, 2006)

  12. Background to RDI 2 • Publication of the research strategy by the Joint University Council Social Work Education Committee (JUC SWEC, 2006) • The launch of the OSWE project based on two action learning sets in England and Scotland, involving 9 universities and some 30 social work academics in evaluating social work education (Carpenter, 2005) • Finally, the successful RDI bid in 2006 has been well attended and is already producing positive feedback.

  13. Aims and Outcomes of RDI 2 • Assuming a moderately successful conversion rate from proposal to funding, an increase in the number of high-quality, social work-related research projects • A series of three ‘expert classes’, focusing on contemporary methods relevant to social work research, especially where there are known gaps in knowledge(s) and experience, will be provided using face-to-face, online and eLearning media • An opportunity for 15 participants to spend a month on a ‘mini-placement’ with a network of registered providers of systematic reviews coordinated by SCIE to provide direct experience of undertaking scoping studies and systematic reviews

  14. Aims and Outcomes of RDI 2 • A repository of downloadable resources for laptops, Mac/PCs, iPods and MP3 players to include all didactic materials • Synchronous chat-rooms, discussion groups and Blogs, available in printable forms • Online downloadable availability of all published protocols, methodological papers and draft research proposals • An online facility devoted to explaining in straightforward, non-mathematical terms the basic principles and uses of contemporary statistics for social work researchers.

  15. RDI 2 in practice • 56 HEFCE-funded staff to join 7/8 topic-based Action Learning sets • to develop promising lines of research enquiry through to a fully-costed completed design, ready for submission to a funding source • A buddy system will link each action-learning set to mentors with track records of success in specific research topics • RDI 2 is aimed at achieving a ‘tipping-point’ in the development of academic social work research • The introductory conference is set for 16 June 2008

  16. RDI 2 in practice • Three 2-day seminars for participants in: • Systematic Reviews and Scoping Studies • Contemporary Qualitative and Quantitative Methods • Experiments and Instrument design (sympathetic to social work values) • Online versions of all lectures, seminars and workshops will be available for all academic researchers to use for teaching purposes with post graduate researchers • (Post-graduate researchers will be invited to attend sessions, if space is available)

  17. Action Learning Sets • Action-learning sets (Brockbank and McGill, 2003) are work- and project-focused but also create a supportive route to personal and professional development • They offer participants an environment in which to discover and explore their own learning needs in ways which are congruent with the values of the profession • Participants choose and work on a project, in this case the development of a research proposal, during and between meetings • The approach is based on learning from personal experience and sharing it with fellow participants, being open to their feedback and suggestions • Between each face-to-face meeting members attempt to implement one step in the process and then report on the results at the next meeting • Members may also communicate between meetings using online discussion boards and seek the advice of colleagues and the facilitators.

  18. Action Learning Sets • For example, members may bring to the group their initial ideas on involving service users and carers in their proposed project • These are discussed and reviewed in the group • Facilitators offer suggestions about relevant literature on the subject and discuss their own experiences • Members formulate a plan and attempt to implement it, possibly recording their experience on a Blog and seeking further advice using the discussion board • At the subsequent meeting, they share and review their experiences with the other members, develop their understanding and refine their approach • During the afternoon of the first conference, successful applicants will join an appropriate action learning set, which will be arranged around topics.

  19. Action Learning Sets • A buddy system will link each set with mentors who have track records of success in specific research topics • One of the roles of the mentor will be to facilitate a process whereby participants identify their own learning needs and design an individually-based learning plan, involving where relevant attendance on other ‘methods classes’ organised by, for example, NCRM, the Essex University Summer School etc. • Action-learning sets will each meet five times at a local collaborating university • Participants will be asked to nominate one of the action learning set to act as a central contact • These individuals will be asked to post information about progress to the website at regular intervals • The availability of discussion groups, chatrooms and face-to-face meetings will be outlined.

  20. Seminar 1Systematic reviews and scoping studies • An intensive 2-day seminar on the processes involved in SR will be organised: • Topic definition • Specifying the field clearly • Setting search criteria • Using synonyms and Boolean logic • Exporting databases • Screening results • Devising inclusion parameters • Introducing rater-reliability • Developing quality assessment criteria • Using analytic and critical appraisal skills

  21. Systematic reviews and scoping studiesPlacements • Fifteen 1-month placements, offered by SCIE and a number of other organisations including • SIESWE • Eppi-Centre, Institute of Education • Social Care Workforce Research Unit • Kings College • Sussex • Lancaster • Central Lancashire • Participants will shadow experienced researchers working on systematic reviews • Universities cover for a member of staff at no cost, as part of its staff development commitment • Host organisations will receive a payment for the one-month placement; participants will receive a contribution towards expenses.

  22. Seminar 2Contemporary qualitative and quantitative methods • This phase will explore to ease the distinction between qualitative and quantitative binary dichotomies. • This seminar will offer two, linked 2-day workshops for 25 participants including: • New(er) qualitative methods including: • Actor-network analysis • Critical ethnography • Data support packages (CAQDAS, NVivo) • Biographic-Narrative Interpretive Method (BNIM) • Mixing epistemologies, including Q-Methodology (see Shemmings, 2006) • Unlocking the potential of contemporary advanced statistical techniques to include: • Bayesian analysis, Path Analysis, Structural Equation Modelling (SEM), Hierarchical Linear Modelling (HLM), logistic regression and dyadic data analysis (IPIM) • Meta-analytic data techniques

  23. Seminar 3 Experiments and Instrumentation • Experimental designs are particularly difficult to apply in social work settings, partly because such interventions take place in complex social situations. • In particular • the processes of referral to services and decision about intervention are complex • decisions about other challenges, such as the need for protection of vulnerable individuals, may overlap with the particular intervention • Social work also favours complex psycho-social interventions, the relative contribution of which can be difficult to evaluate • Finally, social work sees the involvement of service users as central, but upon which traditionally the use of RCTs has placed a low premium.

  24. Seminar 3 Experiments and Instrumentation • Two linked 2-day workshops for 25 participants will take place over 24 months, designed to facilitate: • The use of RCTs and quasi-experimental studies designed specifically for social work applications • The use of scales and instruments in social work research (and practice)

  25. References • Brockbank, A. and McGill, I. (2003) The Action Learning Handbook. Abingdon, Routledge. • Carpenter, J. (2005) Evaluating Outcomes in Social Work Education. London, Scie/SIESWE. • Fisher, M. & P. Marsh (2003). “Social Work Research and the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise: An initial overview.” Social Work Education22(1): 71-80. • JUCSWEC (2006) A Social Work Research Strategy in Higher Education: 2006-2020, Joint Universities Council for Social Work Education Committee’s Research Sub-Committee at http://www.swap.ac.uk/research/strategy.asp • Mills (2006) Demographic Review of the UK Social Sciences. Swindon, ESRC.

  26. References • Orme, J. (2003). “Why does social work need doctors?” Social Work Education22(3): 541-54. • Orme, J. & J. Powell (2005) Research Strategy for JUC SWEC: Building Research Capacity: Student Training and Staff Development. • Shaw, I., Arksey, H., & Mullender, A. (2004) ESRC Research, Social Work and Social Care, London: Social Care Institute for Excellence • Shaw, I., H. Arksey, et al. (2004) ESRC, Research, Social Work and Social Care London, Scie. • Shemmings, D. (2006) ‘“Quantifying” qualitative data: an illustrative example of the use of Q methodology in psychosocial research’, Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), April 2006, pp 147-165. • Walter, I., Nutley, S, Piercey-Smith, J., McNeish, D. & S. Frost (2004) Improving the use of research in social care practiceLondon, Scie.

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