Calling Students to Serve the Homeless: The Reflective Research Story

Authors

  • James Forte Associate Professor, Social Work program, Chrisopher Newport University, Newport News, Newport, Virginia

Abstract

The effective social work researcher engages in systematic, objective, deductive, quantifiable, value-free, self-less, and emotionally placid scientific inquiry. At least that's the lesson I was taught when reading hundreds of research studies during my graduate and doctoral education. And as I began my dissertation, I learned that the lesson was an apostle's creed, a dogma to be embraced and challenged only at risk of excommunication. My first major independent research project in the early 1990s undermined all my convictionsin this true faith. The following narrative highlights some of the interactional dilemmas, cognitive puzzles, and distressing emotions that led meto a more complex understanding of the scientific enterprise.Copyright of Reflections: Narratives of Professional Helping is theproperty of Cleveland State University and its content may not be copied oremailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyrightholder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, oremail articles for individual use.

Author Biography

James Forte, Associate Professor, Social Work program, Chrisopher Newport University, Newport News, Newport, Virginia

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How to Cite

Forte, J. (2014). Calling Students to Serve the Homeless: The Reflective Research Story. Reflections: Narratives of Professional Helping, 5(3), 23–32. Retrieved from https://reflectionsnarrativesofprofessionalhelping.org/index.php/Reflections/article/view/620

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General Submissions