A Profile of UK Doctoral Candidates in Social Work and Social Care

Abstract

One important indication of the strength of a discipline is the state of its doctoral research. An important milestone for the official recognition of social work in the UK has been its inclusion in Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) doctoral funding schemes. The current study assesses the longer term impact of these schemes, via a 2013 survey, following up a previous one in 2008. A web-based survey of social work doctoral candidates in the UK (n=216) was conducted, to profile student demographics, research topics, methods, challenges of and supports for doctoral work. Most doctoral candidates (70%) were using a primarily qualitative research strategy and only 4% were using a primarily quantitative approach. Social work doctoral candidates were slightly less satisfied with their research degree programme than the general population of doctoral students. Key areas of similarity with the 2008 survey included the demographical profile (gender, age, ethnicity) and the percentage who were qualified social workers; key differences included increased percentages of candidates who were registered fulltime, funded by the ESRC and doing a PhD, as opposed to a professional doctorate. The findings highlight a need for capacity-building in quantitative research methods and improved support for this academic community..

Roles of Positive Psychology for Mental Health in UK Social Work Students: Self-Compassion as a Predictor of Better Mental Health

“…A cross-sectional design was employed, addressing the needs for quantitative research in social work (Scourfield et al, 2018). Data were screened for parametric assumptions and descriptive statistics were calculated.…”

The Academic Identity and Boundaries Of the Discipline of Social Work: Reflections Of Social Work Professors On the Recruitment and Research Of Doctoral Students In Finland

“…Many of the professors argued that doctoral dissertations are very important to the identity and development of the social work discipline (also Orme, 2003;Scourfield et al, 2018). The more specific reasons they gave for this can be understood as boundary work within the discipline, i.e., work which defines and strengthens the identity of the discipline (Vuolanto, 2013) and in the case of social work defines it as a research-based practice.…”

“…Tensions have arisen between social work and other disciplines as well as between academic social work and social work practice, and hence it has been argued that social work research should be strengthened (Shaw, 2003;Powell and Orme, 2011;Taylor and Sharland, 2015). Doctoral education plays an important role in this (Orme, 2003;Scourfield et al, 2018). In Finland, doctoral dissertations have traditionally made an important contribution to social work research in producing new research-based knowledge and reflecting traditions and trends of the research field.…”