Qualitative Theories In Social Work

Introduction/background

The perceived motivations for wanting to enter into the social work profession has been a topic of controversial debate for several decades, with intrinsic benefits outweighing the extrinsic benefits, many question why an individual would enter into such a low paying profession with such high stressors involved. These preconceived notions about motivations for choosing to enter into such a field consist of primarily intrinsic motivations such as feelings of satisfaction, a sense of accomplishment, and a love for one 's work. This report adopts a qualitative approach to further investigate these preconceived notions, by a way of having conducted an interview with one female second year social work student from the University of Sydney, by focusing on the social, cultural and environmental factors that has influenced her decision to undertake a career in the social work profession.

Research

There was an interview guide used that listed the questions that needed to be covered during the conversation, in a particular order. The guide was followed, but it was adjusted to be able to follow relevant trajectories in the conversation that strayed from the guide when it felt appropriate to do so. Open-ended questions were used as much possible, to allow for the opportunity for identifying new ways of seeing and understanding the topic at hand. As Alston and Bowles (2012, p. 197) argue many researchers like to use semi-structured interviews because questions can be prepared ahead of time, this allows the interviewer to be prepared and appear competent during the interview. Semi-structured interviews also allow participants the freedom to express their views in their own terms and can provide reliable, comparable qualitative