|
You are invited to CSDA's Quarterly Seminar Series 2011 |
|
|
|
 Seminar 4
SPEAKER
Prof. John Pinkerton - Queen’s University, Belfast
TOPIC
The ‘outcomes wand’ and ‘wicked problems’ - some cautionary comments on evidence based practice and its ability to deal with ‘wicked problems.’
ABOUT THE TOPIC
Most of us in the policy and practice arena face having to conduct outcomes based evaluations – both as a funding requirement and as a generally accepted mechanism of evaluation. Within the UK and Ireland it has become the orthodox view that evidence based pursuit of clearly stated outcomes - the ‘outcomes wand’ - is the means to achieve our goals and close the gap between policy and practice. But is it?
We propose an alternative view, which suggests that instead of focusing solely on outcomes, the context, processes and power differentials that play a role in seemingly intractable, ‘wicked’ problems need to be accounted for.
This seminar provides lessons for anyone in policy and practice who faces the constant challenge of having to prove outcomes, in contexts of deeply entrenched challenges.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Prof. John Pinkerton is a Professor in Social Work at Queen’s University, Belfast and is the co-editor of the British Journal of Social Work. He was an advisor on the development of the National Children's Strategy; Our Children Their Lives in Ireland. His major areas of interest are young people leaving care, family support, and the impact of research on policy and practice. His major theoretical interest is in the policy and practice of child welfare as an interface for exploring the relationship between the state and civil society. He is interested in evaluation and qualitative methodologies.
Thursday 6 October 2011: 14h00 – 16h00
Faculty of Humanities Common Room
C Ring 314
University of Johannesburg, Kingsway Campus
RSVP on or before: Friday 30 September (for catering purposes)
For more information please contact Pinky Nkete on
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
 Seminar Invitation 643.97 Kb
Directions 997.69 Kb
|
