Social work research and its dependence on practice

The state of the art in social work research indicates major difficulties concerning the knowledge basis of the discipline. This article aims to contribute to the discourse on the nature of social work research as a scientific activity. The starting‐point is the philosophy of science developed within the realist approach. It is argued that knowledge is primarily gained through activity in attempting to change social reality and through communication with other people. Knowledge is also recognized as knowing how to do something. The character of the social work knowledge may particularly be understood within the frame of reference presented by the realist approach. The history of the ideas of social work demonstrates the importance of understanding the interplay between theory and practice in social work. The article attempts to delimit the provisional borders of social work research. A model of social work research fields is presented.