Social work practitioners employ three sources of knowledge: (a) experiential ways of knowing and evidence, (b) theoretical ways of knowing and evidence, and (c) empirical ways of knowing and evidence (Williams & Glasby, 2010). Because most social work students come into the PhD Social Work or DSW programs with a firm practitioner identity, they may rely more heavily on experiential ways of knowing. This makes sense because they have been in the field for many years.
However, these ways of knowing draw on authority, tradition, emotions, past experiences, and intuition, which can be questionable (Gambrill, 2012). As you continue in your doctoral program, you will be encouraged to shift to using theoretical and empirical evidence when you make claims. This requires understanding research methods in order to critically evaluate practices that have an evidence base. In your social work practice, you should begin to reflect on how you make social work decisions and the sources of knowledge upon which those decisions are based.
To prepare
Review the following book chapter which is listed in the Learning Resources: “Different Views of Knowledge and How to Get It: Exploring Your Personal Epistemology” by Gambrill.
By Day 4
Post a response to the following:
Identify two sources of knowledge from Gambrill’s chapter and explain how a social worker uses these different types of “questionable” knowledge in practice.
Offer an example of how each type of “questionable” knowledge guides your decision making in social work practice.
Evaluate one strength and one limitation in using these two sources of knowledge to guide decision making in social work practice.
Identify specific ways how a doctoral education will help you develop skills to critically evaluate evidence to determine which practices to use based on the evidence base.
