Books by Ian Shaw

Drawing on evidence from across Europe, Asia and the USA, this accessible book covers how social workers can engage with research and draw on it in practice.

What is the role of science in social work? Ian Shaw considers social work inventions, evidence-based practice, the history of scientific claims in social work practice, technology, and social work research methodology to demonstrate the significant role that scientific language and practice play in the complex world of social work.By treating science as a social action marked by the interplay of choice, activity, and constraints, Shaw links scientific and social work knowledge through the core themes of the nature of evidence, critical learning and understanding, justice, and the skilled evaluation of the subject. He shows specifically how to connect science, research, and the practical and speaks to the novel topics this integration introduces into the discipline, including experience, expertise, faith, tacit knowledge, judgment, interests, scientific controversies, and understanding.

Bringing key developments and debates together in a single volume, this book provides an authoritative guide for students and practitioners embarking on qualitative research in social work and related fields.

Demonstrates how evaluation and inquiry are just as much practice tasks as planning, intervention and review. By demonstrating that good evaluating in practice helps sustain a commitment to evidence, understanding and justice, this title shows that for this to be achieved, evaluating in practice must permeate every aspect of social work.

Ian Shaw shows how evaluation practice can utilize qualitative approaches to gain an understanding that more traditional quantitative approaches may fail to do. Three broad sections include discussions of: the foundations of evaluation and recent trends; evaluation and action programmes and policies; and the practice of evaluation.

Noted food expert and author, Ian Shaw, also places the risks of food, food-born pathogens and food contaminants into the context of life's overall risks.

The study of ancient Egyptian materials and technology is a vibrant one, with research being conducted by many scholars throughout the world. This book brings together the basic evidence for different aspects of change and evolution in Egyptian technology. It also examines wider cognitive and social contexts.