L’ETICA DELLA RICERCA NEL LAVORO SOCIALE. IL VALORE DEL DISCERNIMENTO

Ethical issues innervate the entire research process and, consequently, they have implications for the whole research’s methodological framework itself. In Italy, Social Work research has a relatively recent history. Thus, as one proceeds to focus and develop research methods suitable for Social Work, it is important that the ethical question is not left behind. In this article, some basic historical references for social work research are proposed and the main formal rules about it are summarized. In the second part, the ethical delicacy of social work research is discussed, with a focus on some issues that may arise in the different research steps, from the theme’s choice to the results’ dissemination. The conclusion proposes Relational Social Work as a useful approach for addressing ethical criticalities, not only in social work professional practice but also in social work research processes.