Theoretical and Methodological Shifts in Social Work Research: An AI-Driven Analysis of Postmodern and Critical Theory at the SSWR Annual Conference

IF 1.7 4区社会学 Q1 SOCIAL WORK

Research on Social Work Practice Pub Date : 2025-06-30 DOI:10.1177/10497315251352838

Brian E. Perron, Zia Qi

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Purpose: This study empirically documents temporal patterns in social work research's engagement with postmodern and critical theory (P/CT) frameworks. Methods: Large language models (LLMs) were used to analyze 19,134 conference abstracts presented at the Society for Social Work and Research (2012–2025) for P/CT alignment and methodology. Multimodel evaluation demonstrated excellent reliability across six frontier LLMs (kappa = .73). Results: Temporal analysis revealed substantial increases in P/CT engagement, with “Aligned” presentations growing 7.7-fold and “Partially Aligned” tripling between 2012 and 2025. This growth was distinctly concentrated in qualitative research, reaching 9.28% aligned and 47.81% partially aligned by 2025. The share of quantitative research declined (66.03%–48.36%), while qualitative research expanded (18.43%–31.20%). These trends accelerated after 2019. Discussion: Findings validate increased P/CT presence as methodological concentration, not uniform adoption. This provides empirical data for disciplinary discourse and demonstrates artificial intelligence's utility for large-scale content analysis.

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社会工作研究的理论和方法转变：对后现代和批判理论的人工智能驱动分析

目的：本研究实证地记录了社会工作研究与后现代和批判理论（P/CT）框架接触的时间模式。方法：采用大型语言模型（LLMs）对2012-2025年社会工作与研究学会（Society for Social Work and Research）发表的19134篇会议摘要进行P/CT比对和方法学分析。多模型评估显示六个前沿llm具有出色的可靠性（kappa = .73）。结果：时间分析显示，在2012年至2025年期间，“对齐”呈现增长了7.7倍，“部分对齐”呈现增长了三倍。这一增长明显集中在定性研究领域，到2025年将达到9.28%和47.81%。定量研究占比下降（66.03%-48.36%），定性研究占比上升（18.43%-31.20%）。这些趋势在2019年之后加速了。讨论：结果证实P/CT表现的增加是方法学的集中，而不是统一的采用。这为学科话语提供了经验数据，并展示了人工智能在大规模内容分析中的效用。

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来源期刊

Research on Social Work Practice SOCIAL WORK-

CiteScore

3.50

自引率

11.10%

发文量

105

期刊介绍： Research on Social Work Practice, sponsored by the Society for Social Work and Research, is a disciplinary journal devoted to the publication of empirical research concerning the methods and outcomes of social work practice. Social work practice is broadly interpreted to refer to the application of intentionally designed social work intervention programs to problems of societal and/or interpersonal importance, including behavior analysis or psychotherapy involving individuals; case management; practice involving couples, families, and small groups; community practice education; and the development, implementation, and evaluation of social policies.