SCIE media releases 2004
Change the relationship between research and practice says SCIE
3 August 2004
The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) is calling for research to be better designed to more effectively respond to practitioners' needs.
The latest SCIE publication, Knowledge review 7: Improving the use of research in social care practice, looked at the use of research by the social care workforce as part of SCIE's work on how knowledge works in social care.
It found that too little research is expressly designed to respond to practitioners' needs and that too many assumptions are made about the relevance of research and the scope for practitioners to take it on board.
Rejecting simplistic solutions that focus on discrete parts of the social care system, the report argues for a 'whole-systems' approach that recognises the individual responsibility of practitioners to use research, the responsibility of organisations, and the responsibility of policy makers to embed research in regulation, inspection and standards.
The knowledge review also draws attention to the need for coherent leadership to coordinate the currently fragmented activities and initiatives and increased attention to evaluating efforts to enhance research use.
Research Analyst at SCIE, Wendy Hardyman, welcomed the approaches recommended in the review.
"The social care workforce is diverse and includes a range of staff with different educational backgrounds and learning abilities. Social care settings are also diverse and vary in their capacity to support learning and practice change, so there is little point in simply increasing the amount of research flowing to the front-line.
"What we need is a more sophisticated approach that equips practitioners, their organisations and policy makers to use research constructively and effectively. SCIE has a major role to play in improving the relationship between research and practice and in helping social care workers and organisations to identify and use the best available research."
The research, which was jointly commissioned with the Research Unit for Research Utilisation at St Andrews and Barnardo's, highlighted a wide range of applications for research, from using it to develop policy and practice, to acquiring knowledge and new ideas.
It identified pockets of research-aware individuals at all levels within organisations, but found that research appears to be used less in the independent care sector.
However, it did find evidence across the sector of a commitment to, and belief in, the importance of research for improving social care practice.
Shortly, SCIE will continue its work on how knowledge work in social care and will launch an interactive publication designed to help organisations test their readiness to operate as a learning organisation.
Media contact
Margaret Lynch | Press Officer | T: 020 7089 6858 | M: 07834 194 896
Notes to editors
- SCIE produces free paper and web-based publications which bring together existing information about a particular area of social care, draw out key messages for good practice and identify areas where more research is needed to inform good practice. SCIE's work includes projects on services for adults, children and families; participation; human resource development; social work education; e-learning and the use of knowledge in social care. SCIE also owns and runs the free electronic Library for Social Care. For more information about SCIE visit scie.org.uk.
- SCIE has a programme of work called 'How knowledge works in social care'. As part of this programme SCIE has already produced Knowledge review 3: Types and quality of knowledge in social care looking at how to identify good quality knowledge.
- The Research Unit for Research Utilisation (RURU) is part of the Centre for Public Policy & Management and is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council ESRC. It is a member of the ESRC's Network for Evidence-Based Policy. The overall aim of RURU is to facilitate the production and use of practical knowledge that will assist in enhancing the role of evidence in public policy and public services.
- Barnardo's is the UK's leading children's charity, not only providing services directly to children and families through over 350 projects, but also promoting good child care practice through its policy and research work. Barnardo's Policy & Research Unit produces the 'What Works' series of publications and works to implement an evidence-based approach to children's services.
