Practice Standards for Addressing Social Justice in Social Work Research.

Social justice is a core value of the social work profession. Although various social work codes of ethics provide social workers with ethical guidance regarding research conduct, they do not specifically address how social workers can or should promote social justice when they are planning, conducting, and disseminating their research. This article offers a set of practice standards for social work researchers focusing on ways that they can conduct research in a manner that promotes social justice and redresses social injustices. These standards include both aspirational standards (moral goods to which social work researchers may aspire) and baseline standards (moral duties or minimum standards of good practice). Social work researchers can promote social justice not only by choosing to conduct research related to social justice issues, but also by conducting their research in a manner that promotes social justice. The proposed standards address social justice concerns related to how the benefits, risks, and burdens of research are shared. They also identify ways to empower research participants, share power, and increase the capacities of various groups and communities to engage in research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]