From Scientism to Science: How Contemporary Epistemology Can Inform Practice Research

Fifty years ago, social work understood research as depicted by logical positivism and its successors, and an obsolete scientism
still held sway. This paper will briefly trace the history of the epistemological debate that has taken place in social work
in the last 30 years, which is directly related to the credibility of agency-based research and of qualitative methods as
well as to issues in knowledge development about oppressed groups. Contemporary epistemologies–realism and pragmatism–offer
frameworks that are compatible with what is needed for practice-relevant research and knowledge development: firm grounding
for methodological pluralism, attention to the social and political nature of science, the embrace of theory, and an end to
scientism without resort to relativism. If these changes in epistemological thinking can be fully embraced, the twentyfirst
century can be a very productive one for agency-based and practice-relevant social work research.