Introduced with a new essay that reflects on the 'serendipity, misfires and occasional patterns' in his work, Practice and Research is an overview of Professor Ian Shaw's analysis of the complexity and challenges of the practice/research relationship in social work and is a must-read for any social work student or practitioner.

Ian F. Shaw, Professor of Social Work, University of York, UK

Contents: Introduction; Part I Perspectives on Social Work Research: Cutting edge issues in social work research; Is social work distinctive?; Ways of knowing in social work; Rereading The Jack Roller: hidden histories in sociology and social work; William J. Reid: an appreciation. Part II Evaluation: Social work and the human services; Evidence from qualitative evaluation; Seeing the trees for the wood: the politics of evaluating in practice; Evaluation for a learning organization? Part III Qualitative Research: Qualitative social work: a room with a view; Qualitative research and outcomes in health, social work and education; Ethics and the practice of qualitative research; Constructing causal accounts in social work; The consequences of qualitative social work research; Unbroken voices: children, young people and qualitative methods. Part IV Research, Theory and Practice: The quality of mercy: the management of quality in the personal social services; Game plans, buzzes and sheer luck: doing well in social work; Practitioner evaluation at work; Evaluating in practice; Culture and the indigenisation of quality in Third World social research. Part V Service Users and Research: Consumer opinion and social policy: a research review; Consumer evaluations of the personal social services; Engaging the user: participation, empowerment and the rhetoric of quality; Just inquiry? Research and evaluation for service users; Users; and practitioners' research; Indexes.