Getting Ready for Direct Practice in Social Work by Peter Scourfield

Author:Peter Scourfield [Scourfield, Peter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Social Work, Political Science, Public Policy, Social Services & Welfare
ISBN: 9781526417466
Google: 96vDDgAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 34501402
Publisher: Learning Matters
Published: 2017-05-08T03:39:39+00:00

Constructing and testing hypotheses

Hypothesis – a supposition or proposed explanation made on the basis of limited evidence as a starting point for further investigation. (Oxford English Dictionary, 2016b)

The Domain descriptor requires social workers to be able to ‘understand the need to construct hypotheses in social work practice’. The previous sections and activities will have demonstrated that to understand complex cases as fully as possible requires systematic information-gathering and thoughtful, critically reflective analysis. It will also have become apparent that the process requires constructing hypotheses on limited evidence initially but then testing and revising one’s initial hypothesis as new knowledge and evidence is gathered. That is the starting point. Social workers need to be confident that the knowledge they have is both accurate and relevant. The next stage would be to gather information that can either confirm or disprove your proposed explanation. Information that could disprove your initial hypothesis is called ‘counterevidence’ (sometimes known as ‘contra-evidence’). It is a good habit of mind to look for ‘counterevidence’ because often we find it hard to let go of flawed hypotheses and usually have a lot invested in just finding confirmatory evidence.

Activity 6.5: Confirming or disproving hypotheses

Let us return to the Ndefo family and hypothesise that the children’s well-being is at risk from the mother’s continued and abusive relationship with Aboh. What information would we need to gather to confirm the hypothesis and what information might disprove it?

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