information for practice

How well is the social work research enterprise meeting the profession’s needs? Are social work researchers pursuing questions that have significance for society and for the profession? This paper asserts that social work research needs to be focused on the most pressing of questions—those that have the potential to inform and improve social work practice. The paper explores the knowledge needs of social work as a profession, asserts the primacy of five research questions, and encourages their pursuit as a means to strengthen the social work knowledge base.