Enhancing Research Capacity and Knowledge Development through Social Work Doctoral Education

In the early 1990s, concern about the rigor of doctoral research training led the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Task Force on Social Work Research to investigate the nature of research requirements in doctoral programs (Austin, 1999; Task Force on Social Work Research, 1991). In recent years, several investigators have identified inadequate training in research methodology, often characterized by a limited exposure to interdisciplinary work, as a persistent weakness in social work doctoral education (Howard, Himle, Jenson, & Vaughn, in press; Khinduka, 2002) Guidelines to help programs identify and implement research curricula content were nonexistent or unavailable to most schools until recently.