Knowledge Consumption to Knowledge Generation: Traveling the Road of Practitioner-Conducted Research

Within the profession of social work there is an enduring discourse about the integration of practice and research, with academic researchers perennially expressing a concern about practitioners inadequately incorporating evidenced-based research into practice. This article, based on a paper presented at the Third International Conference on Practice Research, positions practice-based research as common ground between the at-times adversarial positions of practitioners and academic researchers. It first describes a practice-based study that both advanced social work knowledge in general and contributed to improving practice specifically. Citing examples from the study, the article then explores an evolving definition of practice research and illustrates several factors that facilitate or impede a practitioner initiating and conducting research within a practice setting.