Improving Student Receptivity to Research by Linking Methods to Practice Skills

A long-standing disconnect between social work practice and research exists that begins with our current education model. When taught separately, students often think they are distinctly different areas of social work that do not have to coexist. This conceptualization of research and practice as separate could contribute to the dearth of research by practicing social workers and the anxiety social work students feel about learning and conducting research. However, the practice skills of engagement, assessment, intervention, and evaluation are similarly used in many research methods. This paper postulates that teaching some research methods as practice skills could increase student receptivity to research.