Comparison of Social Work Practice in Teams Using a Video Vignette Technique in a Multi-method Design

Abstract

English This article focuses on the use of the vignette method in social worker teams and thereby collective or shared aspects of practice, which cannot be reached through a presentation of a vignette separately to the individual members of the team. A video vignette case was presented to four social worker teams in connection with a focus group session in order to compare the teams’ assessment of the client. The negotiations in the focus groups accentuate how teams interpret the same client in different ways and actualize questions as to where these differences stem from and what they are related to. The results support two methodological conclusions that we discuss in the article: that it is beneficial to use vignette in a multi-method design when comparing teams and that a focus group context is an advantage, when the characteristics of the team should be accentuated, while individual differences become secondary. Danish Denne artikel sætter fokus påbrug af vignettemetoden i socialarbejderteam og dermed kollektive aspekter af praksis, der ikke kan studeres ved at præsentere en vignette separat for enkelte medlemmer af et team. En videovignettesamtale mellem socialarbejder og klient blev præsenteret for fire socialarbejderteam i forbindelse med et fokusgruppeinterview med henblik påat sammenligne teamenes vurderinger af klienten. Forhandlingerne i fokusgrupperne synliggjorde, at teamene fortolker den samme klient forskelligt og førte til spørgsmål om, hvor disse forskelle stammer fra og hvad de er relateret til. Resultaterne understøtter to metodologiske konklusioner, som vi diskuterer i artiklen. For det første er det gavnligt at bruge videovignettemetoden i et multimetodedesign, når sigtet er at sammenligne teamenes vurderinger. For det andet er fokusgruppemetoden en fordel, når interessen er rettet mod at studere karakteristika ved teamene i stedet for individuelle forskelle.