TFEL Resources on Practice Research

For more TFEL resources on the topic of practice research in field education, please visit the resource section on our TFEL website

Birks, L., Wulff, D., & St. George S. (2021, July 14). Research as Daily Practice:

A Review of the Literature. Transforming the Field Education Landscape. https://tfelproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/styled-research-as-daily-practice-a-review-of-the-literature.pdf

McConnell, S. M., Noble, M., Hanley, J., & Finley-Roy, V. (2021). Transforming the field education landscape (TFEL): Integrating research practice into social work field education, Final Report.

McConnell, S. M., & Noble, M. (2021). Transforming the field education Landscape (TFEL): Integrating practice research into social work field education learning contracts.

McConnnell, S. M., Noble, M., Duke, A., Alemi, O., & Shenton, H. (2020). Models for Integrating Research and Practice in Social Work Education. Presented at Transforming the Field Education Landscape Summit, Calgary.

Traber, D., Collins, T., Drolet, J., Adamo, D., Franco, M., Laban, K., McConnell, S. M., Mi, E., St. George, S., & Wulff, D. (2021). Integrating practice research into social work field education. Field Educator11(1), 1-12.


Webinar Research As Daily Practice

In this webinar, Dr. Sally St. George and Dr. Dan Wulff present ideas they have been working on that trouble the distinction between practice and research. Their aim is to bring practice and research back together as a unitary initiative rather than separate operations for new and experienced practitioners. In the webinar, you are invited to imagine suspending the traditional idea that researchers research and practitioners’ practice as well as to brainstorm questions that raise your curiosity in your own practice settings. In addition, examples across many areas of social work practice for which this can be useful will be provided.

Workshop Research As Daily Practice

In this workshop, presenters described their ideas of “Research As Daily Practice”, defined as “systematically and reflectively examining our curiosities and ideas from our work in order to better understand what we do and what we could do.” The main tenet of this idea is that practitioners are, in fact, researchers by virtue of the way they practice. Presenters provided illustrations and opportunities to utilize this idea in a variety of front-line practice settings.

Practice Research Module in Field Education

This webinar highlighted practice research in social work field education. The topics of discussion included definitions of practice research, the integration of practice research in field education, and the understandings of practice research in diverse contexts.

Models for Integrating Research into Social Work Education

This workshop explored the models for research-based field practica and research projects/internships in undergraduate and graduate social work education. Presenters gave an overview of models for the integration of social work education research and practice, and provided examples of how to support research-based field practica and other internships/projects in a variety of practice settings. Past students, who have completed research-based practice learning, shared their experiential critical reflections.

Recommended Readings & Resources

Edmond, T., Megivern, D., Williams, C., Rochman, E., & Howard, M. (2006). Integrating evidence-based practice and social work field education. Journal of Social Work Education, 42(2), 377-396. https://doi.org/10.5175/JSWE.2006.200404115   

Engel, R. J., & Schutt, R. K. (2016). The practice of research in social work. Sage.

Fortune, A. E., McCallion, P., & Briar-Lawson, K. (Eds.). (2010). Social work practice research for the twenty-first century. Columbia University Press.

Gilgun, J. F. (2005). The four cornerstones of evidence-based practice in social work. Research on Social Work Practice, 15(1), 52-61. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049731504269581

Grinnell, R. M., Jr., & Unrau, Y. (2005). Social work research and evaluation: Quantitative and qualitative approaches. Cengage Learning.

Joubert, L., & Webber, M. (2020). The Routledge handbook of social work practice research. Routledge.

Kanika, A. (2015). Research methods: The essential knowledge base. Nelson Education.

Satka, M., Kääriäinen, A., & Yliruka, L. (2016) Teaching social work practice research to enhance research-minded expertise. Journal of Teaching in Social Work, 36(1), 84-101. http://doi: 10.1080/08841233.2016.1128779

Spensberger, F., Kollar, I., Gambrill, E., Ghanem, C., & Pankofer, S. (2020). How to teach evidence-based practice in social work: A systematic review. Research on Social Work Practice, 30(1), 19-39. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049731519852150

St. George, S., Wulff, D., & Tomm, K. (2015). Research as daily practice. Journal of Systemic Therapies, 34(2), 3-14. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15877-8_890-1

Wahler, E. (2019). Improving student receptivity to research by linking methods to practice skills. Journal of Teaching in Social Work, 39(3), 248-259. https://doi.org/10.1080/08841233.2019.1611693

Willison, J., & O’Regan, K. (2007). Commonly known, commonly not known, totally unknown: A framework for students becoming researchers. Higher Education Research & Development26(4), 393-409.