The limited inquiry of standardized’ methods in social work. When standardized management information changes the social worker’s practices and capacity for refl ection

Abstract

This article discusses the implications of the widespread search for and managerial pursuit of evidence-based methods in social work. The article draws on empirical examples from a large ethnographic oriented research study of social worker practice in two municipalities in Denmark. The article concludes that the very focus on methods in itself carries a risk of transforming the case work to a show-trial where the results are given a priori and as such are secondary to the ambition of the method: providing in depth and dialogical based solutions in the social work. Therefore, the article argues that an over exaggerated focus on standardized documentation, in itself can counteract achieving the goals the method was meant to secure.