Social work doctorates in the UK

1. Social work doctorates in the UK Jonathan Scourfield Cardiff School of Social Sciences, UK

2. Two studies • Study 1: A web-based survey of doctoral students – both PhD and prof doc - and search of the Index to Theses (funded by SWAP) • Study 2: An email survey and telephone interviews with professional doctorate programme directors (unfunded)

3. Study 1, part 1: The social work doctoral student population • Web-based survey. The aim was to describe the doctoral student population and the topics being researched. • Demographics: • 32% male, 68% female • 88% white • Age profile

4. Age profile and mode of study There was a significant association between age and mode of study. 73% of respondents are studying part-time

5. Employment and funding Years of social work experience Funding: 51% had their doctoral study funded by some source or other, 37 (27%) were self-funded and 23 (17%) reported a combination of the two

6. Type of doctorate

7. Topic of doctorate • Children, young people, families 43% • Adult service users 20% • Organisation, management of personal social services 13% • Knowledge, theories, skills and/or values 7% • Methods or settings 7% • Education, training and professional development 5%

8. Research approach • 57% reported that they were undertaking an evaluation of policy or practice • 22% thought their doctoral project was primarily a contribution to academic theorising about social work • 10% viewed their research project as an action research project where the engagement of local workers and/or service users in the research process was the most important aspect of the study’s impact

9. Research methodology

10. Satisfaction • Highly satisfied 30% • Satisfied 48% • 13% neutral • 5% unhappy • Arguably SW doctoral students have higher levels of satisfaction than the PGR body as a whole (c.f. Post-graduate Experience Survey)

11. Study 1, part 2: Completed theses • Search strategy – Index to Theses relevant subject categories and the phrase ‘social work’ 1997-2006 • An average rate of 38 social work thesis completions each year

12. Topic and method • Topics • 34% Children, young people, families • 19% Methods or settings • 15% Adult service users • 14% Knowledge, theories, skills and/or values • 9% Organisation, management of personal social services • 8% Education, training, professional development • Methods • 40% Primarily qualitative • 8% Primarily quantitative • 18% Mixed method • 34% Not known

13. Study 2: Professional doctorate programmes The aim of the research: to map the provision of PD programmes Research methods – email survey and telephone interviews

14. Mapping PD programmes How many programmes and where? How long have they been running? How many students are there? Nomenclature Structure What is working well? Relationship between research and practice

15. How many programmes and where? 14 universities: five pre-92 (‘old’) and nine post-92 (‘new’) • How long have they been running?

16. How many students are there? Total 72 Mean 6 Mode 3 Median 3 Only two in double figures (17 and 22 respectively) • What are the degrees called?

17. Structure – a full list of responses • A systematic review; an empirical/field research study and a practice-based project - all about 30,000 words in length. • 120 Masters credits: 10,000 word dissertation pilot study; 45,000 word thesis; 5,000 word assessment of thesis outcomes • 160 credits at M level plus 40,000 word project • 3x7000 word papers plus a 60,000 word thesis • 2 practice analyses (about 10-15,000 words each) and a research proposal (5,000) plus research thesis (60,000 words) • 2 years of M-level research methods + 50,000 thesis • 3 taught years - with 3 modules (and 60 credits) each year plus a dissertation of 40-60,000 words • 4 modules plus 40,000 thesis • 8 modules, 4 of which have to be passed at D level, plus 50,000 word thesis • Part 1: Module 1 Review of Previous Learning and APEL claim plus Module 2 Planning a Practitioner Research Programme. Part 2 Work-Based Project/s - usually 1 large one, sometimes 2 smaller ones • 4 modules plus 50,000 word thesis • 6 modules plus 30,000 word thesis • Phase 1: 3 essays/ project (17-18,000 words); Phase 2: project (18-20000 words); Phase 3: thesis (35-45000 words) • Stage one consists of 2 M-level ‘macro-modules’: research methods (70 credits) and professional development (50 Credits) plus one 60 credit D-level module on project development, design and management. Stage two is a supervised work-based research project: 50,000 words

18. What seems to be working well? Collaboration with other disciplines Cohort identity • Relationship between research and practice Little evidence, but.... Most programmes seem to be applied research doctorates rather than practice-based doctorates as in clinical psychology

19. Access to the research • Both studies have been published in BJSW advance access http://bjsw.oxfordjournals.org/papbyrecent.dtl • Scourfield, J. and Maxwell, N. (2009) Social work doctoral students in the UK: A web-based survey and search of the Index to Theses. British Journal of Social Work, doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcn139. • Scourfield, J. (2008) Professional doctorate programmes in social work: The current state of provision in the UK. British Journal of Social Work, Advance Access, doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcn139.