Social Work Research Podcast

I will shortly be launching a Social Work Research podcast. It will feature conversations with researchers about studies they have completed and their implications for social work practice.

I’m creating this podcast to open up discussions about research relevant for social workers. While it is primarily for social work students and practitioners, I hope that it will cut through research jargon and terminology to make social work research accessible to anyone who is interested.

Quite often, academic research can be perceived as being exclusive. We publish our work in journals, many of which are still behind paywalls. Many journals provide open access options, but most papers are still accessible only via institutional subscriptions or a hefty access charge. This unnecessarily adds to the mystique of research which makes it look as though it is not for mass consumption. This is counter-productive and, quite frankly, wrong, in my opinion.

Many social workers will not pick up a research paper after they have qualified. Not only do they often not have access to them, they are often not required to. We do not have a strong research tradition in the profession – safe and effective practice often involves intuition, experience and following policies or procedures. Practice based on research evidence is still the exception rather than the norm, particularly in the UK. However, it is my belief that we can be more effective and confident as a profession if we critically engage with the research that underpins what we do. We may not draw upon it every day, but it is there in the background informing the development of the profession and we need to understand it better to enable us to move forward more confidently.

The Social Work Research Podcast aims to bring research closer to those it is intended to benefit. I hope that it will help to make social work research more accessible, relevant and interesting. While I cannot promise end to end banter, I hope that a conversational style will at least make the discussion of research findings a little more engaging. Listening while out walking the dog, or commuting in the car, or relaxing in the bath will hopefully make it a bit easier for students and practitioners to reflect on social work research during some down-time.

Each episode will feature a conversation with a researcher about a study they have conducted. I will try to reach the person behind the research to better understand what they are trying to achieve in their study. I will explore with them the background to the study, the methods they used and their findings. Most importantly, we will discuss how the findings inform social work practice. Throughout, I take a critical approach, exploring both the strengths and limitations of the study to enable listeners to weigh up the significance of the findings. Each podcast will be accompanied by a link to the full text of the article under discussion so this can be explored further if required.

This podcast is independent of my other roles – it is not a commercial enterprise, just a way of making social work research a little more accessible. I’m recording episodes from home using Zoom and there is no production company involved, so sound quality may not be perfect and it may be a little rough around the edges. But hopefully, that will not detract from the quality of the conversation. Of course, any views expressed in the podcast belong to the person who utters them.

Over the course of the podcast series, I hope to cover a range of topics so hopefully there will be something of interest to everyone. However, if there is something you’d like covered, a particular paper to be discussed or you’d like to listen to a particular researcher talking about their work, please let me know via my contact form.

The home page for the podcast is martinwebber.net/socialworkresearchpodcast where episodes can be downloaded or streamed. However, when it’s set up, the podcast will be accessible via all the main podcast providers.