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Reclaiming Knowledge From the Ground Up: Transforming Social Services With Practitioner Research
Wu Shuang
Researcher (CYPHER)
Article Type: Perspective
Published 8 Sep 2025
Dr Praveen Nair
Chief Editorial Advisor (CYPHER)
Understanding Practitioner Research in the Singapore Context
What counts as credible knowledge in social services? In Singapore’s structured system, evidence is typically produced and implemented through top-down regulatory frameworks. Practitioners are expected to meet these standards, yet they rarely contribute to shaping them. On the ground, however, another kind of knowledge rooted in the realities of daily practice is constantly at play. Yet this form of knowledge is seldom recognised as evidence or nurtured to inform decisions across the sector.
To bridge this gap and empower on-the-ground insights, Practitioner Research (PR) offers a powerful path. PR refers to the systematic, reflective inquiry carried out by practitioners in their professional contexts, using rigorous methods to generate actionable knowledge aimed at improving practice and outcomes within their contexts (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 2009; Sheikhattari et al., 2022).
In Singapore, PR remains underdeveloped in the social service sector. Three key challenges highlight why nurturing a stronger PR culture is both timely and necessary:
1. A dearth of local practitioner research
There is limited research conducted by front-line practitioners in Singapore’s youth work and larger social service sectors (Nair, 2023). Most existing studies are led by academic institutions or government agencies, leaving practitioners with few opportunities to investigate practice-relevant questions rooted in their daily work.
2. Heavy reliance on non‑local research
Research and models guiding day-to-day practice in Singapore are imported from Western contexts (e.g., the U.S., Australia, etc.) or regional environments (e.g., Hong Kong), without sufficient adaptation to our distinct socio-cultural realities (Nair, 2023). This can raise concerns about the contextual relevance and effectiveness of such imported ideas (Guntzviller, 2017).
3. Top‑down knowledge flow
In Singapore, most social service research comes from academic institutions and government bodies, often translating into top-down initiatives when applied in practice. This can be problematic as it risks overlooking frontline insights in shaping interventions and context-sensitive adaptations (Wessells, 2018).
PR Is Vital to Strengthening the Social Service Sector
PR offers multifaceted benefits and serves as a powerful catalyst for improving social services at individual, organisational, and societal levels. Some of these benefits are highlighted below.
PR serves to advance practice, knowledge, and evidence use by:
- Bridging the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application, leading to more grounded & impactful interventions for clients, stakeholders, and communities
- Cultivating deeper, context-specific understanding of local issues, needs, and solutions—benefiting clients, practitioners, and the larger community
- Promoting evidence-based practice which can only benefit clients, practitioners, and the larger community
- Generating more contextualised knowledge and supporting advocacy for marginalised groups; especially those underrepresented in the literature
- Generating knowledge that can be generalisable/transferable across practical contexts
- Supporting ethical practice by helping ensure contextual relevance in diverse cultural settings
PR serves to benefit and empower clients and stakeholders by:
- Producing interventions with greater potential for efficacy, leading to more meaningful outcomes for clients, stakeholders, and communities
- Amplifying local voices through research that reflects their perspectives, experiences, and priorities
PR serves to develop and empower practitioners by:
- Providing a powerful avenue for professional development and leadership
- Enabling practitioners to identify and respond to issues within their practice, and to design & test innovative strategies
- Fostering reflexivity through critical reflection of one’s own practice
PR serves to enhance systemic efficiency and collaboration by:
- Supporting more effective allocation and use of limited national resources
- Encouraging collaborative practice through the sharing of insights and findings among practitioners and stakeholders
- Aligning social work more closely with other health professions (e.g., psychology, medicine, etc.) that use evidence-based approaches, enabling smoother cross-sector communication and collaboration
When we pull these threads together, it becomes clear that PR generates meaningful impact across individual, organisational, and societal levels.
At the individual level, it benefits not only practitioners, but also the clients and stakeholders they serve—enabling more responsive and effective services.
At the organisational level, it fosters a culture of learning, reflection, and shared responsibility, helping organisations become more adaptive and aligned with frontline realities. This can translate into improved service quality, more efficient resource use, and greater staff engagement.
At the societal level, PR contributes to inclusive, contextually grounded knowledge that empowers the sector to advocate for marginalised communities and inform policy that reflects diverse lived experiences. In doing so, it strengthens not just services, but the broader systems in which they operate.
Similarly, the benefits of PR can extend beyond better outcomes; it redefines how knowledge is created and who holds authority in shaping it. Unlike externally driven models, PR shifts power towards a ground-up, practice-embedded inquiry. This is especially vital in social work, where contextual complexity cannot be separated from effective practice.
Society and social work are in need of establishing new kinds of processes where knowledge production is based and established bottom-up instead of only top-down –Uggerhøj (2019, p.8)
The Road Ahead: Challenges & Considerations
PR is not without its challenges. For local practitioners, conducting research effectively can be demanding, requiring time, resources, and institutional support that are often limited (Ellis & Loughland, 2016). It also calls for critical and reflexive capacities that may not be well developed or consistently encouraged within prevailing practice cultures.
Ethical considerations must also be addressed, including managing dual roles as practitioner and researcher, ensuring data validity and reliability, protecting participant confidentiality, and navigating power dynamics or potential conflicts of interest (Nair, 2023).
Moreover, PR can encounter resistance or scepticism from both within and outside the sector, particularly when it challenges established norms, questions authority/expertise, or exposes systemic gaps. As such, it requires a culture of curiosity, critical thinking, and reflexivity, qualities that must be intentionally cultivated within social service agencies and the wider sector.
Our Commitment
At CYPHER, we believe in the power of grounded research to reshape the future of social services in Singapore. We’re committed to creating space for youth workers and other professionals to engage in meaningful, ethical, and practice-rooted research that reflects the realities of our community. We invite practitioners, scholars, and stakeholders to join us in this collective journey, towards a more grounded, effective, and just social service ecosystem.
A PLEA FOR
SUPPORT
At CYPHER, we believe that scientific knowledge should benefit youths, practitioners, policymakers, and the wider community.
That’s why we provide science-made-simple articles, expert insights, and even original research — all freely accessible, with no paywall and no hidden agenda. We aim to produce work that is clear, practical, and focused on addressing real issues within our community.
If you value independent, evidence-based resources, please consider supporting us with a donation. Every contribution, no matter the size, makes a difference. We rely on the generosity of people like you who believe in non-profit work for the greater good.
Can you help us?
A PLEA FOR SUPPORT
At CYPHER, we believe that scientific knowledge should benefit youths, practitioners, policymakers, and the wider community.
That’s why we provide science-made-simple articles, expert insights, and even original research — all freely accessible, with no paywall and no hidden agenda. We aim to produce work that is clear, practical, and focused on addressing real issues within our community.
If you value independent, evidence-based resources, please consider supporting us with a donation. Every contribution, no matter the size, makes a difference. We rely on the generosity of people like you who believe in non-profit work for the greater good.
Can you help us?
References
Cochran-Smith, M., & Lytle, S. L. (2009). Inquiry as stance: Practitioner research for the next generation. Teachers College Press.
Ellis, N., & Loughland, T. (2016). The challenges of practitioner research: A comparative study of Singapore and NSW. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 41(2). Article 8. https://doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2016v41n2.8
Guntzviller, L. M. (2017). Cultural sensitivity in research. In M. Allen (Ed.), The SAGE encyclopedia of communication research methods (pp. 317–320). SAGE Publications. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781483381411
Nair, P. (2023). A practitioner inquiry into the creation & application of a contextualised therapeutic model to raise the competencies of youth facilitators in Singapore [Doctoral Dissertation]. Middlesex University. https://repository.mdx.ac.uk/item/8q46q
Sheikhattari, P., Wright, M. T., Silver, G. B., Donk, C. van der, & Lanen, B. van. (2022). Practitioner research for social work, nursing, and the health professions. Johns Hopkins University Press. https://doi.org/10.56021/9781421442068
Uggerhøj, L. (2019, October 18). Theories and approaches in social work practice research – Challenges and possibilities [Public Lecture]. https://fass.nus.edu.sg/swk/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2020/10/20191018-Prof-Lars-Uggerhoj-Theories-and-Approaches-in-Social-Work-Practice-Research.pdf
Wessells, M. G. (2018). A guide for supporting community-led child protection processes. Child Resilience Alliance. https://communityledcp.org/guide