STUDYING RISK-MANAGING, DECISION-MAKING AND ASSESSMENT PROCESSES

Chapter Summary: This chapter provides a summary and examples of research methods for studying the processes of making decisions, assessment and the management of risk in social work. This includes processes involving social workers communicating with clients, families, colleagues, managers, other professionals, and other organisations. For our purpose, the management of risk includes professional processes of assessing, communicating and managing risk, and also overall governance processes. The chapter provides a summary of the core strengths of qualitative, survey and mixed-methods research, together with examples of their use in relation to the topics in Section Two of the Handbook.