Inside information: social welfare practitioners and their information needs

This article sets out to chart, in a brief and therefore relatively condensed form, the development of the EISSWA Research Project since its inception in February 1977, and to outline its current position at the half‐way stage in the programme. In the course of the article, some attempt is made to describe the ‘action research’ philosophy and method underpinning the project, these being in important respects different from the strategy generally adopted by more traditional research programmes. It is assumed that the article's principal audience will be those already working or researching in the field of social welfare information but it is hoped that the following comments will also be relevant to, and perhaps strike a familiar chord with, practising social workers and probation officers.