It is important in decision-making, policy development, and the
establishment of new programs in Social Work that these initiatives
be supported by scientific evidence. Evidence-based practice is based
on evaluation research that highlights interventions that have been
found to be effective. Establishing the evidence-base involves either
consulting secondary reviews of studies or synthesizing the results of
single studies.

This module covers the emerging area of evidence-based Social Work
with an emphasis on Community and Social Systems. It provides an
opportunity to gain a comprehensive overview of concepts in best evidence,
to understand distinctions between evidence-based medicine and evidence-
based Social Work, to explore resources that provide evidence-based practice
information, and to develop techniques for searching and finding research
to support best evidence in the field of Community and Social Systems.

Because some areas of Social Work "research are descriptive and (lack) a
critical perspective...it may be difficult to find evaluative research on
outcomes of methods...Sources of Social Work knowledge are diverse, with
organizations, policy makers, professionals and users making valuable
contributions, alongside research." (Braye, S. & Preston-Shoot, M., 2007
p. 313-315). This module will try to deal with gaps and weaknesses in the
knowledge base when compared to health sciences, other kinds of
research to use if Random Control Trials and Systematic Reviews are not
available, and broader questions of values and ethics that also inform
practice in Social Work.

[Source: Braye, S. and Preston-Shoot, M. (2007). On systematic reviews in Social Work:
Observations from teaching, learning and assessment of law in social work education.
British Journal of Social Work 37 (313-334) ]

Implied in the graph below is a hierarchy of Research Methods, with methodologies
in medicine considered at a higher level than methodologies in Social Sciences:

	Social Sciences	Medicine
Research Methodology	Case Studies	Randomized Control Trails
	Cross-sectional Surveys	Clinical Trials
	Case Controlled Studies	Meta-analysis
	Cohort Studies	Systematic Review
	Literature Review

[Source: Cournoyer, B. (2004). The evidence-based Social Work Skills Book.
Boston,Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.]