Knowledge creation in social work: the views of graduates of two social work master’s programmes in Chile

Abstract

This article reports on one of the areas addressed in the research aimed at describing research practices and the kind of knowledge created through postgraduate theses, as well as graduates’ perceptions of the contribution made by their postgraduate research in creating knowledge for the discipline and for social policy. The cases of the Master’s Degree in Social Work and Social Policy (MTSPS) from Universidad de Concepción and of the Master’s Degree in Social Work (MTS) from the Pontificia Universidad Católica in Chile were taken into account.

The research focuses both on master’s theses and on the graduates of the last ten years (2005 to 2014) in both programmes, as well as on dissertation papers. The final sample was made up of 32 (MTSPS) and 28 (MTS) graduates. It was a convenience sample, since the instrument was sent to the whole group. For the selection of dissertations, a simple probabilistic sample of 40 cases was chosen for each programme. An analysis matrix was produced for the analysis of research practices, deriving from the degree master’s theses, and the online form of the survey was used to measure the variables associated with graduates’ views of their research work.

The main results indicate a positive perception of the impact of research into policy and social work. However, in practice there is insufficient publication and/or monitoring of the use of knowledge created through these postgraduate works.