Abstract
In my recent Editorial for Qualitative Social Work (Morriss, 2018), I argued that it is vitally important to support social work doctoral students and early career researchers (ECRs). In summary, I argued that the decisions that we make as social workers are life changing and have lifelong impacts, and therefore it is crucial that there is a strong research base to inform our decision-making. Yet, doctorates in social work are still relatively rare. In addition, the picture is complicated by the existence of three different doctoral routes in social work in the UK, each bringing different challenges: the ‘traditional’ doctorate; the professional doctorate and the PhD by publication. Unlike neighbouring disciplines, there are no professional bodies in the field of social work that provide support for doctoral students and ECRs in social work. The support that does exist is ad hoc and on an individual basis, depending on the particular institution or the local Doctoral Training Partnership. Often, we remain isolated, working alone. Thus, the picture is complex: there is no typical doctoral student or ECR in social work. However, what we are highly likely to have in common is this lack of generalised support.
British Academy Rising Star Engagement fund
As a result of my concerns, I successfully applied for funding from the British Academy 2018 Rising Star Engagement fund to enhance the visibility of doctoral students and ECRs in social work through a conference, a workshop, mentorship and policy engagement with leading stakeholders.
The first event was held in September 2018 in Birmingham, UK. The independent researcher, Dr Helen Kara, ran a workshop on writing as a creative method. The attendees encapsulated the complexity of being a social work ECR: some were working in practice and planning to stay in practice, others were doctoral students, both full and part-time and some were teaching or researching in university settings. The workshop involved several practical hands-on exercises, including working together in small groups or pairs. At the end of the workshop, everyone left with an individual writing plan. It has been a joy to observe the attendees go on to undertake the tasks on their plans. For example, Stacey Stewart, a doctoral student, went on to write two blogs about her work for Community Care Magazine. In her first blog, Stacey argued that social workers should question the use and origins of ‘failure to protect’ in domestic violence cases: https://www.communitycare.co.uk/2018/10/23/social-workers-question-use-origins-failure-protect-domestic-violence-cases/. This blog has had a great response and led to some much needed discussions about this contentious term. In her second blog, Stacey showed how her social work skills prepared her for doctoral studies: https://www.communitycare.co.uk/2019/01/24/social-work-skills-prepared-phd/. Stacey makes clear the synergies between social work research and practice. Stacey told me that she would never have had the confidence to publish these blogs if it weren’t for taking part in the workshop.
The social work blogger and ECR, Ermintrude, attended the workshop and has written about it here: https://medium.com/@ermintrude2/researching-social-work-c9138534ef31
For me, Ermintrude summarised the day perfectly in her blog: The thing that struck me was despite having such different experiences as social workers and social work researchers, the core meaning of social work and what it is shone through. It was almost an epiphany that I experienced towards the end of a day filled with energy, enthusiasm and enjoyment … I saw the golden ‘social work strand’ that ran through all the wild variety of topics, interest and experiences that we had.
The second event was a one-day conference held in Manchester, UK in November 2018. One of my aims for the conference was that attendees would have the opportunity to chair and present for the first time in a supportive setting. Larger conferences can be a daunting experience as a new doctoral student and ECR. I know of several people who had negative experiences at their first conference. For example, a doctoral student’s first presentation at a European conference was met with a hostile and belittling response from a well-established Professor which was not challenged by the chair or indeed anyone in the room. Thus, I was keen that this ECR conference should be a warm, collegiate and supportive experience. To help ‘de-mystify’ conferences, Dr Donna Peach, founder of PhD Forum, produced and circulated ‘Guidance’ on conferences, chairing and presenting in the weeks before the conference. I also emailed each of the chairs with the abstracts of the three papers in their session. This enabled the chairs to devise very interesting questions and summaries of each presentation in advance.
The conference attendees were a mix of doctoral students and ECRs, some based in practice; and others in teaching and researcher roles. The conference was supported by the attendance of Lyn Romeo, the Chief Social Worker for Adults, England, Ruth Allen, CEO of BASW and Robyn Polisano, Principal Research Analyst at the Department of Health and Social Care. Lyn, Ruth and Robyn all engaged fully in the day, listening intently to the presentations and asking pertinent questions. Their presence demonstrated their commitment to and support of doctoral students and ECRs in social work.
On the day, I’d set up a table with art materials where attendees could make their own name badges when they arrived at the conference. This enabled people to engage in an activity alongside each other, rather than standing around on their own without knowing anyone. I also introduced the chairs and the three presenters in each session to each other so they could support each other before and after their session. The standard of presentations and chairing was extremely high. Indeed, it was better than I’d seen at most conferences! In the afternoon, Donna Peach facilitated a group discussion of what attendees felt a supportive Community of Practice would look like. As part of this, the ECRs had the opportunity to speak to Lyn, Ruth, Robyn and Donna in small groups. The whole event was recorded by graphic artist, Debbie Roberts; and captured on the Twitter hashtag #SWResearch. Here is one of her fantastic images of me introducing the event.
Future engagement
Following the events, we have kept in touch via a mailing list, on Twitter and in emails. Attendees have been introduced to other social work ECRs in their local area and are meeting up. I am supporting ECR Wahida Kent to hold a similar conference in Cardiff in May 2019. This is being supported by BASW Cymru and the School of Social Sciences at Cardiff University. There will also be a conference in Scotland in September 2019 which is being developed by ECR Ariane Critchley. In Ireland, three ECRs – Sarah Donnelly, Kerry Cuskelly and Eavan Brady (along with Niamh Flanagan) – have been involved in setting up the first All-Ireland Social Work Research Conference which will be held in June 2019. This is being supported by BASW Northern Ireland and the Irish Association of Social Workers along with other partners. In addition, there will be a day specifically on AMHP research to be held in England in 2019. ECRs can contact me for details of these events on:
It is exciting to be part of a community of ECRS in social work which is supportive, collegiate and proactive. The ‘golden social work strand’ is just beginning to blossom.
Reference
In this issue
Qualitative Social Work has a tradition of publishing career interviews of distinguished social work scholars who have been influential in conservations on qualitative inquiry. We have two career interviews in this issue, which are very special as they are with the founding Editors of the journal: Roy Ruckdeschel and Ian Shaw. Roy is interviewed by Karen Staller and Ian by Mark Hardy. They both make fascinating reading.
There is an unequivocal emphasis on articles about social work and technology in this issue. We start with a narrative review of the value of digital video data for qualitative social work research. The author, Jenn Miller Scarnato, argues video data are under-utilized in social work research. She evaluates the value of digital video data at the collection, analysis and dissemination stages of research. This is a great resource for those considering using digital video data in their studies. We then move to an article about the use of video diary methodology. In their article, Otis L Owens and colleagues discuss whether a self-recorded, video-ethnographic method is feasible for use among older African Americans who live alone. The authors offer suggestions for improving this methodology through providing in-depth training, establishing multiple points of contact for technical support and providing additional practice.
The third article in the issue is called ‘Qualitative inquiry using social media: A field-tested example’. The authors, Mary A Caplan and Gregory Purser, provide a step-by-step account of a Reddit-based qualitative thematic analysis from a social work heuristic lens on the subject of poverty. Consideration is given to the philosophical, ethical and practical issues this type of research raises. This is followed by an article focused on Qualitative Data Analysis Software, specifically MAXQDA 12. Austin G Oswald reflects on the use of this software in his study on the social lives of older gay men. Oswald concludes that having a single plat-form to support several analytic activities created a systematic and organized approach to working with qualitative data. In the next article, Catherine R Phillips works with an autoethnographic narrative in order to examine how stand-ardised tools and technologies, like computers, operate to mediate the relationship between social workers and service users. Interestingly, the authors of the next article conclude that increased standardization can strengthen social workers’ abil-ity to perform their professional task rather than lead to de-professionalization. Mikael Skillmark and colleagues examine how the idea of using risk assessment tools is manifested and processed in domestic violence social work in Sweden.
We move from a focus on technology in the final four articles in the issue, although the study outlined in the next article analyses video-recorded interactions. Elin Nilsson and Anna Olaison use conversation analysis to examine how couples, in which one has a diagnosis of dementia jointly talk about an uncertain future with dementia. In their article, Melissa Hardesty and Alana J Gunn discuss survival sex and trafficked women. They use a social constructionist epistemology to explore the politics of voice and representation in anti-oppressive qualitative research. The penultimate article by Elysée Nouvet and colleagues draws on feminist, post-colonial, anthropological and performance studies literature to interrogate what and how arts-informed community-engaged research can add to critical engagements with social inequalities. In workshops, women with lived experiences of homelessness and housing insecurity performed stories they felt compelled to tell in order to secure resources and empathy from social work practitioners. The women then used first-person narrative and image theatre to evoke the worlds they are imagining for themselves and others in their advocacy work.
The final article authored by Liz Beddoe, Barbara L Staniforth and Christa B Fouché uses the concepts of pride and felt stigma as organising constructs to highlight the ambivalent emotions within the ambiguous positioning of social work as a profession in a contracting welfare state. The issue closes with a review essay on Mobilities Research. Our new review editor, Jadwiga Leigh, introduces this section and highlights some exciting new work on the use of GPS devices in social work research. Alistair Roy reviews the book, Walking Through Social Research edited by Charlotte Bates and Alex Rhys-Taylor. Alistair makes clear how mobile methods such as walking can allow us to be ‘co-present with the histories, lives, designs and practices that make up the spaces and places in which we live and work, helping us to be more observant and attentive to the social, psychic and physical worlds in which our ideas, arguments and understandings must emerge’ (see Review below). It reminded me that social work is sensory work (Morriss, 2017). After reading this review, I immediately ordered the book.