Practice Research Collaboration in Social Work

Abstract

This article explores a particular approach to developing practice research collaboration between universities and field agencies. The significance of metaphor in framing knowledge relationships is examined and in particular the contribution of reflexive knowledge exchange as a generative metaphor for collaboration. In positing practice research as a social practice, social, cultural, and political dimensions of knowledge exchange are emphasized. Illustrated through a specific site in Australia, the analysis highlights the importance of reflexive knowledge work within universities as a foundation for productive and innovative engagement with field agencies, suited to conditions of uncertainty and complexity. Keywords knowledge exchange, metaphor, practice research collaboration, reflexiveThis article examines the significance of metaphor for practice research and provides an exploratory study of the use of reflexive knowledge exchange as a generative metaphor for collaboration between university and field. The proposition is pursued that, for practice research collaboration to flourish, attention has to be paid to the institutional settings and relations of knowledge production. Having explained ideas of exchange and reflexivity, the discussion turns to related change processes within a particular university to illustrate the work to be done in laying foundations for successful and innovative collaboration with the field. This is followed by specific examples of the diverse forms of practice research endeavor that can then be realized. The discussion concludes with a consideration of the prospects for sustaining this form of collaborative knowledge work into the future. Investigating the use of a particular metaphorical construct in a site in Australia, it is argued that, while the challenges may be substantial, reflexive knowledge exchange offers a valuable approach worthy of further development and formal evaluation. This article is presented in an authorial voice consistent with the experiential basis of the analysis, constructed with reference to a diversity of literatures that address the social structuring of practice research collaboration.